


Another Head Hangs Lowly

by Rivain



Series: Parade [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Multi, Original Character(s), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Third Shinobi War, imposter syndrome
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:55:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 42,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23878021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rivain/pseuds/Rivain
Summary: Wondering if this falls under the category of “Old Soul,” Sergeant Melody Nightingale finds herself living the impossible. Walking straight out of one hellscape into another. Now more than ever she can’t help but agree with her friend’s statement. The world was gonna end bloody. The question now was whether this 28-year-old still had the energy to go out swinging. And if she even had a choice.Luckily, going down without a fight isn’t exactly part of her independent, stubborn Texan nature.(Remastered from FFN. Regular bi-weekly scheduled posting to return 2021)Posted on Ao3 as well.
Relationships: TBD - Relationship
Series: Parade [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1976851
Comments: 3
Kudos: 10





	1. In the End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Death. Death was supposed to be easy.  
> Be inevitable.  
> It was something you could not run from. Something that everyone no matter where you stood in life would have to face.  
> Death was supposed to be the final release.  
> Everyone knew this was an outcome when you signed that dotted line. Nobody wanted to believe it would happen to them.  
> Nobody wanted to go out like this.

**Defeated.**

It was the only way she could explain how she felt as she trudged behind what they could only describe as impossible. Her head throbbed, wondering why this was what her mind had conjured up in what had become the last moments of her life. Everyone always said images of your life would play in your mind. Yet here she was, reliving a scene that had played thousands of times in her dreams. 

Any concerns about Jackson and the squad disappeared when she opened her eyes and found unfamiliar white feet stepping one ahead of the other where her own brown should be. Concerns over how long the tourniquet would remain on Baker until backup arrived disappeared as initial panic kicked in. Had someone kidnapped her? Why did she still have a head, if so? The familiar rush of adrenaline flooded her veins as panic set in. She could no longer hear her brothers’ and sister’s cries for their loved ones in the arid desert air. 

Just moments before, she had finally come to accept that she had reached the point her father warned her about. The point every sheepdog dreaded and fought tooth and nail to avoid. A sheepdog’s sole purpose was to ensure the safety of the flock. Inevitably, some things were outside of your control. 

And you were not enough.

Denial was a powerful motivator. As their day ticked by, she could push away the idea that they were not all going to make it out alive. That their sister-teams silence wasn’t because someone had slaughtered them, but was some attempt to keep the enemy from finding their location. As the hours ticked past the midday point and sweat rolled down her legs during a lull in the fighting Sergeant Nightingale was left with the last thing anyone like her wanted to be left with. 

Her thoughts.

How many loved ones had pulled her aside before this last deployment and pled with watered eyes that she would ensure that they came home? Alive. It was their job to take care of one another, doubly so for herself. Baker had told her to think nothing of it, that nothing had changed in the time between their deployments. But she knew better. They were hers to take care of. They always had been and yet now look at them.

They were on the brink of death and instead of trying to pick herself back up and get back into the fight to ensure that they made it to the estimated time of Delta’s arrival; she was here hallucinating, writing a fucking letter. Writing to an impossibility. Yearning for the one thing that she knew she could never have. 

She was looking into the eyes of the man, no. The now boy who would do absolutely anything for her. Not herself, but the woman whose eyes she was borrowing and aspired to make proud. He would turn into, no. He was **always** the man, even boy, that she needed so she could bear the burden that she carried for all those around her. 

SGT Nightingale was selfishly imagining herself finding that impossible person to take share the burden she carried for everyone around her. A burden that led them both straight to their own inevitable demise. Unable to help those who relied on them to carry on for everyone else’s benefit. 

**Pain**

Melody was no stranger to pain, but it had reached unbearable points. And she hadn’t the words to explain, nevertheless fix it. 

It felt as if someone was crushing her heart with their own hand, but vanished the moment her doe-brown locked with deep pools of blue. She wanted to cry out in both joy and pain as she lost herself in those beautiful blue depths. 

She could finally give in. She knew her time was up as her vision split, and it felt as if someone was driving a pickaxe through the front of her skull. The promised visions of her life flashed on one side: the war, training, death, heartache, and repetitive disappointments. It was all there. She was all there. Melody, SGT Nightingale had left her mark in the world. 

On the other side, there was a familiar innocence. An innocence she hadn’t felt since it was snatched from her at a young age. The little girl who had big dreams and put them aside to bear her burden. To ensure that someone took care of her siblings and protect them from the ever-changing, dangerous world that they lived in. But these were not the memories she had expected. Instead, unfamiliar images of her idol flashed. Impossible memories that were far too detailed, carrying powerful emotions that she couldn’t remember even the creator mentioning. As the headache pinched further and her vision flickered, confusion and thoughts that were not her own cried out. 

It didn’t make sense, but it did at the same time as the migraine dug in. 

Conflicting thoughts battled for dominance. She had never experienced one before this and wondered if they had poisoned her. Simultaneously, she recalled the first time she had experienced one bearing all her gear and spending seven hours out in the excruciating heat of her first deployment.

For the first time in her life, she wished for someone to end it. To just put her out of her misery.

A flare of defiance ran through her in objection. 

Never in her studies or experience had she heard about the symptoms she was experiencing. Her right half felt as if it was on fire as her vision faded to black. Even the confused defiant part of her brain watched in abstract horror as men dressed in a familiar uniform made their way through the bodies that surrounded them. Her terror was for those around her. Her left side shivered as a cool breeze brushed across her skin as her vision slowly came back into focus. There was pain around their wrists, and it was the dead of night. Here, she feared for herself. 

In both instances, she was losing hope.

Fervently blinking, trying to adjust their vision, a brilliant light blinded them. On the first side, the reflection of the sun off of the uniformed man that leaned down before them. The moon’s silver glint as it escaped from cloud cover. Then in both, she locked eyes with a set of familiar cerulean blue eyes. Both smiling as relief washed over their features. 

“I came to save you.” 

Torch handed off.   
She let the darkness consume them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The [story] Summary says all!
> 
> As promised, this story hasn’t been discontinued. Life has finally settled down (as much as it can after a year like 2020) and in the time since I have been hand-jamming chapters for Part II (The 13 years post-Nine-Tailed attack) along with updating my original posted chapters.
> 
> Since I am a sucker for nostalgia and enjoy going back and reading my work from half a decade ago, the original story will remain posted on Fanfiction.net separate from the remaster that will be posted there a week ahead of posts on here.  
> The reason for this is that I thrive on feedback and while Ao3 is making leaps and bounds in filling up the role FF.net has dropped. Between the algorithm to track numbers and the responsiveness of the community with reviews and comments, chapters will be posted there first.
> 
> Thank you for your time, feel free to message/review.


	2. A little of vision of the start and the end

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This would have been one of those fixed-points in time that the Doctor had a tendency of bringing up when trying to explain the logic of the universe to his companions. Melody definitely would have come to the same conclusion. Everything was happening so fast and she knew that she had the make the decisions needed to be made in these moments count. If this was her swan song she wanted to do it right... but was the definition of right a matter of perspective?

Book One: 

Chapter One

[ July ]

{ Arrival }

“I showed up to save you.” Her eyes narrowed as she searched his eyes for a hidden meaning behind his words. When she found nothing it felt as if an enormous burden had been lifted from her shoulders. Then her body finally succumbed to exhaustion.

Her memories were a jumbled mess of information. She couldn’t understand or comprehend what was happening. Point A did not lead to Point B, and the only logical conclusion she conjured up as her legs gave out from under her was that she was hallucinating. “You’ll be all right now.” The gunfire, screams, and confusion that clouded her mind evaporated the minute she locked eyes with the impossible. A blink later and she was weightless as if she were making up The Scream.

A calm fell over her.

She was free.

Then her mind caught up.

“Oi! Wait a minute!” Muscles contrasted at the sudden change as she processed all these sensations but quickly relaxed at the sight before her. The moon. The tree canopy flowing beneath them like a green ocean. It was nothing like she had ever experienced. Not as Melody and sure as hell not as SGT Nightingale. If anything needed to get done, experience taught her that she could only count on herself. That was not saying that she didn’t give others the chance to prove her wrong. The owner of those beautiful blue eyes had been the reason that her standards for everyone (and herself) were as obnoxious and inconceivable as they were. In response, she held herself to the same standard if not higher of the particular person worthy of such. Not one to be outdone, she then mirrored herself into the one woman who would be worthy of the partner she dreamed about meeting almost every night.

Only to wake up knowing she would never look up from the arms of her savior and fall for them under the brilliant backdrop of a full moon.

Guilt hit her like a runaway train, forcing her to turn away only to spot magnificent long rivers of red glistening in the moonlight. Her heart froze. “That’s…” Things were not adding up in her mind. She relived pulling out chunks of her hair to capture the attention of anyone who may search for her. Simultaneously, she remembered watching _Kushina_ do the same thing from the confines of her small bunk out in the sweltering heat on deployment. This wasn’t the first time that she imagined herself in her heroine’s shoes. Reliving their lives as if they were her own. But she was **always** still Melody. Where there were lengthy straight red locks there **should** have been long curly brunette spirals in between Minato’s fingers. Yet, there lay beautiful strands of crimson. 

Kushina flickered back and forth between two sets of memories, emotions, and experiences.

On one side was Melody. She absolutely adored the shade of red and was inspired by what it represented. Independence, Love, Hope, Strength, Determination. Her favorite color never changed to the prime color, but it directly affected the woman she had become. There was never a day she didn’t have some form of a charm made in the color to remind her of who she wanted to be. 

On the other side was Kushina, who couldn’t stand the color. Couldn’t stand the pain and burden that came with it. She felt nothing but Loathing, Loss, Hatred, Embarrassment, and Fury. If she could go back and change everything she would. She would be normal, like everyone else around her. There would be no need for some foreign shinobi to come and kidnap her in the middle of the night for something she had practically no say for.

“Your hair is beautiful. So I noticed it right away.” His voice pulled her from the sudden onslaught of emotions that assaulted her. A wave of emotion that Kushina had futility tried to bury in her short stint called life, and Melody had long since neglected since she had become a medic took over.

Anger - they could work with, they could harness, but this…

“But you’ve always ignored me.” The words slipped past their lips without a second thought. The younger’s tendency to always speak her mind won out. Evaluation and planning had been how the elder had survived all these years. She would take in all the variable she had at her disposal before saying or doing exactly what the other person wanted, or needed, to get the result that benefited the situation at hand and those involved. While the words had slipped, the elder had internally cursed and looked away. Unwilling to show the hurt displayed for the world to see on her features. Not willing to admit just how surprised these emotions coming from the young red-head rung true for her.

“Because I know that you’re strong...” _I had to have died_. The elder concluded as she looked up in shock at the blond-haired future Hokage. _I_ **_had_** _to have died- whether I was now in heaven or hell was up to anyone’s interpretation._ “... In body and in spirit.” He landed on top of a tree, and this time looked directly in their eye. “But this is a fight between two villages. It’s different from your other fights, so…” She had to have died. It was the only reason that explained how she was staring into those deep pools of blue that she had been endlessly chasing for the last decade and some change of her life. 

“So?” This should have been a gift, but she knew it was a curse. She knew things that nobody had any right to know. Things that shouldn’t be swimming around a child’s mind. The horrors she had seen, the loss she had felt. The loss she was to feel if this dream continued. Through some cruel twist of her fate, her mind was reliving the life she aspired. The life of the woman to which her standard was set. An assault of questions and doubts overtook the young conflicting mind. A part of them knew that she was a sorry excuse for a copy from the original. Already shattered and glued back together.

Would She never come to exist due to her own arrival?

“I didn’t want to lose you.” The fog of war slowly seeped away as the elder played through the possibilities. She had a purpose. A new mission, and this time she would not fail.

A great wind blew through their claustrophobic mind-scape.

With it came the soothing smell of the ocean and lilies.

“Even if I’m an outsider?” Both voices that were once fighting for dominance spoke at once. Young Kushina could feel the chaos of her once shrinking mind-scape crumble as grass broke through the concrete slabs beneath her. She had tried her hardest to become full of love like Mito-Senpai had told her, but something was missing and the growing darkness forced her to build the walls. So when the young redhead found a caramel-skinned, curly-haired brunette in her mind with a fresh batch of memories after having just been kidnaped, and on the brink of losing hope, she was immediately defensive.

“Why do you say that?” Images of both worlds: Kushina’s life Uzushiogakure followed by Konoha and Melody’s time in the service flew through her mind. “You live in the Hidden Leaf Village, so you’re one of us.” Inside both, the woman and preteen looked at one another as they reached an unspoken understanding. The walls of their prison erupted back, disappearing into a pleasant field that enveloped their mind-scape. 

Both the twenty-eight-year-old woman and the thirteen-year-old Genin were of the same mind.

 _To hell with the complications all of this brought about_. _I am not goin’a give them the pleasure of stealing everything from me once again._ Kushina thought as she looked over at the tired-looking twenty-eight-year-old. _She had gone through twenty-eight years of disappointment and loneliness._ They were separate in their minds for compartmentalization, but they were the same.

Biting her lip as the elder rolled over, Kushina contemplated the brunette’s plan. Having reiterated numerous times that ‘the mind’ had a set amount of space. To keep as much space open as possible for her, Kushina, to live her life she, Melody, said that she would like to sit down and write out anything that may be of some use for them in this world. Seeing what she had before being thrown out, Kushina knew that there were things inside Melody’s side that were relevant and quite possibly dangerous.

Hand-written notes would be nothing like the memories themselves, and both agreed that the sooner they mastered Fūinjutsu, the better. Melody wanted to seal specific events away so they would not be lost… Especially if she, herself, were to disappear with time. It was this final statement and possibility that had the young Genin tearing up. There was nothing that would convince the young Jinchūriki that Melody was as much a miracle as Minato.

A blessing.

Hope.

They had both agreed for Melody to keep some of her more gruesome and irrelevant memories, for Kushina, from their shared mind. Anything that had nothing to do with her -Kushina corrected their- future family’s life were things Melody would let go. Just before the elder had rolled over to rest, she had walked the younger through some information she had on her -their- son, and Kushina had to admit it was a curious experience. Feeling other people’s emotions, that is.

Melody had not been drawn to the younger generation, their son’s generation, of characters in this entertainment piece. She had always been more interested in the elusive past. Whilst other kids her age, because they were kids when this first showed, fell in mad and even obsessive love with the Genin Nine, Sasuke and Gaara namely. Referring to themselves as kids of that generation. Meanwhile, Melody was more connected with Kakashi and later Lady Tsunade. 

Kushina couldn’t help but wonder if that had been some twisted case of foreshadowing. Connecting with characters whose past would reflect her future. Though when it came down to it, everyone would agree that neither of them fit. Having caught glimpses of the wars and life that Melody lived through, along with the darkness that threatened to consume her even as the elder tried to jump past them. Kushina couldn’t help but wonder if the lanky man’s words held any truth to them. Those events were such an enormous part of her being having helped shape the woman, but they didn’t define Melody.

Glancing over toward the snoozing twenty-eight-year-old living in her mind, no their mind, a bright smile enveloped her features. 

She had finally found her other half. Her Yin, if you must.

As their mind and body wakened from their unconscious state, they had decided they would die before allowing the events they had watched come to pass. She would sooner bite off her own limb before she let her son become orphaned. She’d tear his arms from their sockets before she allowed their husband to seal half of the Nine-Tails with the Fūjin. She was going to die anyway, but that didn’t mean she was going to take a chunk of the village and the rest of her family with her. 

Luckily for her, she was going to become the best mother fucking Seals Master known in history. 

Minato could have the Hokage position.

But not both. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Updated October 7th 2020]


	3. Even the cherry tree, swaying in the wind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> React to contact. It's always been Melody's way of dealing with unexpected events and this would be no different. Waking up in Konoha for the first time with both halves together, Kushina finds that this has always been the way she has dealt with things. As both orient themselves to their new normal a few familiar faces show up to help.

Chapter Two   
[ July ]  
{ A + 00 }

“You know it’s likely an excellent time now to wake up, sleeping beauty.” Looking up at the woman who was smiling down at her would have sent her into a panic just the other day. Instead, her attention shifted over to the extraordinarily similar blue sky that framed the elder. “I mean, I don’t know all the details, or rather didn’t? Hadn’t?” Brunette locks bounced back and forth as she shook her head. “Ugh, this is confusing. Anyway, regarding what precisely happens between now and the time you are told- we are…” Kushina sat up and the brunette squat down. “For the love of apple pie; until you are told that you are pregnant I know little about what the hell happened during your life.” The younger watched the elder pop back up on her feet and began pacing back and forth. “The more I think about it the more it bothers me, but whatever. Nothing I can do about it now.” She waved off some hidden object before turning to look directly at the redhead once more. “I need you to wake up so we can get our minds, slash mind, ugh… So we can get started on this Fūinjutsu stuff.” 

“I have an entire collection of information stored back at home." Kushina offered earnestly. “I am sure we can learn a lot from them.” The brunette smiled and ruffled the top of her head. 

“You are just too adorable.” She laughed. Kushina hadn’t even known how stressed she was until then. “I think I can get used to this. But seriously, we have to wake up now.”

“Oi, for the love of-” Violet eyes scanned the room she found herself in and shivered involuntarily. Both hands came up to rub the opposite arm as the door opened and a brunette haired kunoichi walked in smiling as their eyes met. 

“Kushina-chan you’re awake.”

“Seriously stop the honorifics.” The red-haired Genin slapped her hand over her mouth at the stunned gaze of the nurse and smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, I never was a morning person.” The nurse slowly nodded and smiled before walking over and offering her the cup of water that was set on the table next to her. _My bad._ The elder apologized. 

“You had a good number of people worried, Kushina. Can I call you that.” Dropping her hands from her mouth, Kushina nodded sheepishly. “You have some really good friends.” There was something about the way the medic’s voice carried that last word that irked the redhead. “A certain blond-haired shinobi kept swinging by here. Is he a friend of yours?” _I don’t know if she is trying to be coy about what she is getting at, but this woman couldn’t bullshit her way into a free drink from some drunkard at the bar if this is her best._ The Genin didn’t have the chance to respond to the elder's comment before the medic continued. “I think he has a crush on you.”

 _Let’s not murder the lady who watched over us whilst we recovered. No?_ Kushina couldn’t help it. The sing-song voice and the way she attempted to slyly mumble that last statement. With a slight nudge, the Genin opted for the elder's route… albeit with a very Kushina-esque twist. Laughter erupted from her lips, taking the woman by surprise. “Gomen, gomen Senpai. I don’t know if it’s the medicine speaking, but I could have sworn that you said that Minato-teme and I were friends?” Her expression satisfied both parties. “He rescued me, yes. But that is just about the extent of our social interaction.” 

“He seemed to care very much about your well-being.” This time Melody pushed harder, allowing the kunoichi to fall back on her decades of training to maintain her bearing. “Does him saving you mean nothing?”

“It doesn’t mean I have to fall in love with him, ya know.” The words were out of her mouth in an instant, but not exactly a complete lie. Whether the woman was not used to brash personalities or was simply new at this didn’t matter to the redhead. “What? I’m not going to fib and say I had everything under control. I’m a Genin and ambushed while at home... alone. Let’s be frank here, medic-san.” Kushina did not bother to reign in the irritation she felt on top of the ire that radiated from Melody. “If they wanted me dead, we would not be here having this discussion. I would have been dead hours before anyone noticed I was missing. Found in a puddle of blood before anybody knew any better.” She sighed and brought her hand up to her nose, mimicking the reaction Melody had in their mindscape. “I am eternally grateful that Minato-san came and saved me when he did. I am forever in his debt, but that doesn’t mean that I am going to expect him or anyone else to do that for me again.” Crimson locks slowly inched their way up as chakra and their emotions intertwined. “I’ll make the next group of shinobi who try to pull something like this rue the day they were born, just you watch me.”

“Hai, hai. Calm down Kushina-chan you just woke up.” Kushina’s left eye twitched at the slip-up. Luckily the medic was saved from another round of tongue lashings by the door opening.

“Hokage-sama.” Both females replied as the elder and leader of the village walked in. Kushina’s hair fell, and she felt herself taking back control as Melody rolled over in their mind-scape. Had she a tail and been a feline, Kushina was sure it would have been swaying back and forth in annoyance.

“May we have a minute, Yumi-chan?” The medic, Yumi, nodded and scurried out of the room, but not before glancing back at the two curiously as she shut the door behind her. Violet eyes watched with renewed interest as the Hokage made his way over to the chair at the side of her bed before sitting down. For the briefest of moments, there was silence and Kushina couldn’t help but feel like the leader of the village was looking into the depths of her soul. Their soul. A genuine worry crossed her mind that perhaps he could tell that she wasn’t exactly the same as she was the last time he saw her.

Kushina couldn’t tell if that was her own concerns or her picking up on Melody’s.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was an amiable man, but not a man to be trifled with. They both knew this. While a sense of awe at looking at the younger version of the man she knew as the Professor washed over Kushina from her elder counterpart. Both knew that his appearance here was not for naught. He was a busy man balancing the duties that came with not only running a village but also battling a war. There were seldom times in her own experience that the elder visited her or Mito-sempai just because he was in the area. 

Finally, after what felt like hours of dreaded silence that forced Kushina to break eye contact, at Melody’s request, to look out the window, he spoke up. “How are you feeling?” Violet eyes locked once again with his brown and luckily Melody stood back during this confrontation, muttering something about not wanting to add fuel to the fire. 

“Starving, ya know.” Once again her hands were over her mouth and Melody was facepalming though smirking. A soft chuckle broke through his lips as his demeanor lit up. That had apparently been the right thing to say.

“Hungry? Is there anything I can do about that?” The Genin looked from him, then around the room.

“Could you possibly sneak some Salt Ramen in?” Kushina asked quietly as she leaned over toward him, “I promise to eat more vegetables.” Watching from the background, but keeping a keen eye on the confrontation, Melody was trying to get a feel for just who Sarutobi was at this point in time. She knew that age and time after the war had mellowed him out, but she had little information to go on. If anything new had been shown in the later episodes, or books, she had been older and much too preoccupied with life and their own wars to sit down and watch. Leaving her only with what few flashbacks, she had re-watched what felt like thousands of times in the short amount of time they had before Yumi had come in.

“We’ll just have to see what I can do for you about that.” He still seemed genuine, like someone she would love to know and be able to confide in. _The good news is that Kushina adores him. _The elder thought to herself as their violet eyes wandered over to the window and a brief silence enveloped the room.

“Are you going to ask me to move into the village, Hokage-sama?” Kushina was voicing Melody’s thoughts, something the soldier didn’t seem to care too much for if her glare were any indication. Hiruzen looked away from her, choosing to look outside the window himself.

“Yes.”

“It makes sense. Mito-sempai is gone and not coming back.” A mix of her own and Melody’s thoughts spilled past her lips. “I have already been kidnapped once and the chances of that happening again are relatively high. With the state of matters and the compound being at the edge of the village.” Kushina smiled, she loved her home and while she didn’t want to move, she knew that it was time. Melody was already giving up so much to give them this chance. It wasn’t fair or right for her to not make this minor sacrifice. “It’s the most logical decision but can I ask for something in return.” Sarutobi looked away from the window and back at the Uzumaki.

* * *

“Kushi~ Oh! Gomen, Hokage-sama.” Jolted out of their conversation the thirteen-year-old jolted back at both the door slamming open. _I don’t know if that says more about the company of the village or how disciplined he is._ Melody murmured in their mind, having also flinched back. Hiruzen merely brought his hand on his ward's head and ruffled it similarly to how Melody had earlier.

“It is quite alright, I was just leaving.” Kushina watched the Uchiha bow as the elder passed. “The village cannot run itself,” _Translation: The war cannot run itself._ “It was a pleasure speaking with you today, Kushina-chan. If there is anything else you need let me know.” 

“The pleasure is all mine, Hokage-sama.” Mikoto was at her side the second the door completely shut. Neither Kushina nor Melody realized the danger they were in until they were nursing what was sure to be a lump on the back of their head. _Oi! Aren’t Uchiha supposed to be all dark, broody, and boring!_ The elder groaned. _That bloody hurt!_ “Oi, I missed you too, Mikoto-chan.” 

“Oi?” Dark eyes looked on the redhead questioningly as said redhead sheepishly offered a shrug having not intended to blurt out one of Melody’s not as quirky fall-back words.  “ Not important. Tell me what happened.” A flicker of guilt swept out from Melody as images of another girl flashed behind their eyes. As quickly as it was there, it was gone and Kushina made a note to bring that up to Melody at a later time. 

“Mikoto-chaaaan.” The Uchiha stiffened, immediately recognizing the tone. “What do you say we bust out of this joint?” 

“No.” 

“Great- first we will- wait, what?!” _The moment you went all creepy sing-song voice you had your answer._ Kushina shot back a quick ‘hush you’ to the elder as her friend explained herself. 

“I said no.” A hand fell on her own, “Kushina you were kidnapped.” 

“Yeah and?” The glare itself shut her up before she could even begin to lie and say that she had a plan. 

“And you were out for a couple of days.”

“ **WHAT**?!” Without a second thought, the covers were thrown to the bottom of the bed and she was on her feet. There was a wobble, but she would vehemently deny it if brought up. “A few days?!” 

“Kushina calm down.” 

“I have things to do, ya know!”

“You need your rest.” 

“Scrolls to read, family techniques to master all on my own. Lest they be lost to the sands of time! I don’t have time to be lying around.” Much to Melody’s own surprise, they were out the window that they had been looking out not but half an hour prior.

“That didn’t take nearly as long as I thought it would.” Kushina smiled to herself as she looked at the packed boxes. _I would refrain from speaking to yourself out loud._ Melody smirked, causing the Habanero to physically glare. “And where exactly have you been?”

The moment she had mentioned Ramen to the Hokage that was all her mind was focussed on, so that had been her first stop since busting out. The teen had hoped that perhaps a brief detour through the village would satiate the elder's curiosity at the world she found herself in. And another part was hoping to find a fellow Ramen enthusiast. Three bowls in and no response from the elder had the teen a bit concerned, so her next stop was the training grounds. Another attempt to show off the village done in complete silence. Striking out twice and with the soldier nowhere to be found. Kushina headed home and begin packing for the inevitable move. They had a lot they needed to get done and while he would have preferred they sat down and came up with some game plan; the Uzumaki knew she could do this much on her own.

“I was out on a mission.” Instinctively, especially now more so with Melody, a kunai was thrown from her pouch and at the familiar but sudden voice. A second one was in hand. “Whoa!” There was a thud from the kunai embedded itself into the wall. 

“That had to have been the most stupid thing you could have done. I was just kidnapped, _ya know_.” Slowly she turned around to face their blond-haired comrade and future Hokage. _Huh, never wondered what would happen if he died early._ Melody pondered aloud, _scary thought._

“You’ve gotten better at aiming at a moment’s notice.” He noted out loud looking at her handiwork. “That would have hurt had I not moved.” Kushina’s right eye twitched at the supposedly unintentional insult. “That aside _everyone_ is looking for you.”

“I highly doubt it, the first place they would and should have looked would have been here,” Kushina replied as she made her way to the kitchen to grab some cups for her and her uninvited guest. That was one reason she had gone to Ichiraku’s first, in hopes to miss them entirely. _And let’s face itif it were important the ANBU would have done something by now._ Melody chimed in.

“You were just kidnapped from here, even I checked Ichiraku’s first,” Minato replied as she came back in with two cups of water, not really in the mood to make tea. “What’s with the boxes?”

“Just tell me why you are here Minato,” Kushina spoke before taking a drink, “You rarely spoke to me before the incident and now I can’t seem to shake you- awake or asleep.” She smirked at the blush he tried to cover by taking a drink himself. “Don’t misunderstand me, I am grateful for the rescue in all. But I am not a porcelain doll.”

“I was just checking up on a friend after I returned from my mission,” Minato replied, “You were out for a week.”

“ **A WEEK**?!” The water intended for swallow now drenched the blond. “Mikoto said a **couple of days**!” Water forgotten, she was standing and stacking boxes before handing them to her visitor. “Come on friend, grab a couple of these boxes and help your _friend_ move into their new abode. That’s what _friends_ do, _ya know_.” Melody’s expression mirrored Minato’s inside their mindscape, though she was sure that it wasn’t for the same reason. She was recoiling from the emotional rollercoaster that she was now part of. The elder was sure some of that affected the young blond she was positive his expression was from the sudden revelation of their immediate change in residence. 

Having just enough time to stand before three boxes were handed to him, Minato nearly lost his balance for a moment while Kushina made her way to grab three of her own boxes. “K-Kushina~” Before he could voice his own concerns about her running around with these unusually heavy but well-packed boxes the redhead was gone, and he was taking chase.

“Come on, slowpoke! Time waits for no man!” Kushina was gracefully dodging villagers left and right as she bee-lined toward her new home. Minato wasn’t too far behind, apologizing to those they passed for the both of them. “And don’t you dare drop those boxes!” She threatened.

The compound Kushina was staying at was a good ways away from the village center and a fair distance from where he stayed. With her move, she knew that it would be easier for people to monitor her if needed. Which, in her case, would be frequently. If she wanted to go out and hang out with people, then they were closer than they were before. Ever since she was endowed with this burden, the redhead couldn’t help but wonder when this day would come. She was nowhere near as skilled or capable of handling herself as Mito-sempai could.

Having arrived and heard from the Chūnin at the gate that she had not only woken but apparently made a run for it the moment she realized how long she had been out (or so he thought) Minato made a beeline for Ichiraku’s.

As he watched the river of red slip between the crowds his sensei’s words echoed in his mind. “Kushina is a very special Kunoichi. The Uzumaki Clan was quite the formidable foe and many would kill to get their hands on a living member.” Minato frowned, there wasn’t too much knowledge about the Uzumaki’s open to the public. Much like with the Uchiha or Hyūga it would seem that they kept their hand close to their chest and according to reports, there was nothing salvageable in the remains of their village. Anything that was recovered had seals that could possiblynever be opened. 

Minato frowned as they passed the area where Genin and Chūnin lived. He was about to voice his concerns when the Uzumaki made her way up a staircase for Jōnin ranked shinobi. Five flights up and they were standing outside of room 59. “Home sweet home!” The habanero chirped as she unlocked the door -by handing two more boxes to him need he add\- and walked in.

It was much larger than the place he was staying in and, surprisingly, already furnished. He attempted to walk into the apartment but found himself stopped by an invisible barrier. “What are you waiting for blondie~” Kushina yelled, a quick glance over his boxes and he saw her peeking her head from what looked like the kitchen area. “Oh, right. Here, give me those.” She muttered, grabbing the five boxes and setting them down next to the one she had.

“A seal?” She grunted in response as she shifted through the boxes, looking for something. Minato brought his hand up to the entrance and watched in awe as his hand lay flat against a familiar chakra signature. “You created this?” There was another grunt of acknowledgment from his companion. “Wow.”

“Aha~!” _I told you to put all the brushes in their own box_ , Kushina heard Melody mumble as she rolled her eyes and walked back over to the blond before grabbing his hand. He winced, “Quit being a wuss, it’s just a minor shock…” She mumbled as drew a kunai out and cut through the top of her hand holding his, brush in mouth. Blue eyes watched intently as she brought their hands up so she could dab the bristles in red before flipping them over and slicing through his own hand, repeating the process. “Lift up your shirt.” Minato blanched as she pulled his shirt up and drew kami knows what on his stomach before he could recover she slammed her hand down on his skin, pulled it back nodded, and headed back to the kitchen.

 _I give you kudos for not turning beet red there._ Melody smirked as the redhead violently cleaned off two more cups before filling them with water. _Now the question is how will the rest of the visit fair._

Much to Melody’s disappointment after the two downed a cup of water, Kushina had them shuffling back and forth between the two places. Brown eyes watched from the perspective of violet ones as boxes upon boxes were brought to their new home. Mikoto had swung by sometime after their third trip, and if looks could kill, they would be dead. The young Uchiha was really broadening the opinion the brunette had on the Clan. Statistically, she knew that there would be personalities within the group, but given that all she had was the perspective of two unique individuals after the demise of said clan… well, it didn’t exactly brush them in a nice light. The trip had its ups but was rather boring for the twenty-eight-year-old. 

In the future Hokage’s defense, he attempted to start a couple of conversations with his future wife, but they didn’t get too far...

* * *

“So the Jōnin complex.”

“Hokage-sama wants me around people who can prevent last week’s incident from happening again.”

* * *

“Feel good to finally be up and moving after a week?”

“I can’t believe I was out a week. I am so behind on my studies, how am I supposed to become Konoha’s first female Hokage if a simple kidnapping leaves me out for a week!” Kushina ranted as they walked up the stairs once more.

* * *

“What’s in these boxes?”

“All sorts of things; namely books, scrolls, inkwells, ink brushes, ink.”

“In eighteen boxes?”

“Oi, I didn’t see you complaining when they saved your ass...

* * *

“Do you have any food in any of these?”

“Food? Who needs food with Ichiraku’s a hopscotch away.”

“Hopscotch?” Kushina mentally cursed Melody as said brunette laughed uncontrollably.

“A walk away.”

* * *

 _Careful, if you are too hostile you are going to scare off everyone._ Melody finally warned as the sun was retreating. _Trust me, being hostile because you are embarrassed is a damn good way to end up alone. Fiesty on the other hand... people are more open to that._

“Minato.” The blond looked over to Konoha’s Habanero as he opened the door, “Thanks.” She added crossing her arms and looking at the yet-to-be-decorated wall. “For everything.”

“It’s what friends do, no?” She slowly looked over to those beautiful blue eyes before smiling and nodding. “Be safe Kushina.” With that, he shut the door and they were left to their own thoughts once more. _You go ahead and get some sleep. _Melody spoke up from the depths of their mind as she took control. _I’ll get us to bed and study some of those sealing theories of yours, or better yet write out what I can remember in one of the other languages I know._ Feeling the concern rolling through her thoughts she continued. _I’ll use up as little energy as I can and get some food in our stomach before its time for you to get moving._

“Technically we will be running on no sleep.” Kushina mused.

“In a sense. But believe me when I say that not losing any of this information is worth a couple of nights of no sleep. At least until I can lock them away for you to view later.”

 _Save a couple of your favorite memories as well, will ya?_ Kushina muttered watching in awe as Melody took out an inkwell, brush, and some scrolls and began writing in a foreign text. _When we finally learn how to do this all mentally of course…_

Melody paused mid-stroke for a moment then smiled at the request before nodding. “Sure.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If it wasn't obvious with the first two chapters I do not have a beta. If anyone is interested feel free to hit me up... maybe some accountability will have me posting regularly.
> 
> Additionally, I typically post chapters with 5000 words minimum now. This story doesn't have that going for it leave a comment on whether you'd like to see those longer chapters or the apx 1500 word chapters we've had the first two. This one is standing around 4000


	4. Clever alibis, Lord of the flies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [ edited - Oct 18th 1615 est]  
> Wth each passing day the two knew that they were running out of time. Melody hadn't exactly shared when this deadline was, but she knew from images of herself that she was a bit older. That both reassured the kunoichi as it did terrify her. The only way she knew how to help her stressing counterpart was through her studying... little did either of them expect the elder to pick up an interest in the arts.
> 
> Fortunately, their time spent together hitting the scrolls had not been for naught. Now it was time to not only test out their limits but try and see if they could twist this new interesting development into something that would work in their favor.

[ August ]

{ A + 01 } 

Kushina was many things, and stupid was not one of them. While the two had said nothing out loud Kushina was positive that Melody knew, or at least had an idea, of what she was up to. No. The Uzumaki damn well knew Melody had noticed what she was up to. The fact that the soldier hadn’t brought it up told the teen she wasn’t _technically_ doing anything wrong, even if it felt like she was. 

The first night wasn’t so bad.

For most of the night, Melody was writing important information on any and everything she could think of that pertained to their future family and the village. For a good thirty minutes, Kushina watched as their hand moved in unfamiliar strokes and produced what she could only guess was one of these other languages that the brunette knew. And not being known for patience, unless it had to do with Seals, the redhead grew bored and explored their newly joined mind.

The second night she could identify the vowels of this other language easily enough and search for some other simple patterns. That lasted maybe twenty minutes before she decided that wandering aimlessly once more would prove to be more interesting.

About two days after that, a mental test with Melody over the alphabet she was using and at least eight face-palms later, Kushina settled herself once more in their mind if nothing else than to not upset the elder. When she turned around and discovered a white and brown medium-sized dog staring up at her tail wagging. It wasn’t as large as most of the Inuzuka’s, but not the size of a cat either. She seemed nice enough, had come from only goodness knows where and spun a few times before jumping up onto Kushina’s knees and running off.

That was all it took for Kushina to take chase.

“ _You’re turning twenty-one…” Melody spoke as the teen gawked at a tall slender male version of the brunette. “There was no way that I_ _wasn’t_ _taking you to Vegas to get you hammered and make horrible life decisions.” The slightly darker-skinned guy looked at them. Whatever confusion Kushina had upon entering this scene was gone when she noticed the uniform everyone was wearing as that of Melody’s when she first appeared. He then looked over to the soldiers behind the desk._

“ _Don’t look at us. She came down here_ _six months_ _ago and talked to the Captain.” The one named Chavez laughed, Kushina wasn’t sure whether she recognized the writing on the uniform of this she knew this because Melody knew. “Come on Nightingale even super soldiers need a break.”_

“ _You don’t understand what kind of hell you just unleashed.” The male grumbled, reminding Kushina of the few instances she elicited a similar response out of Melody._

“ _Come on now Maverick, don’t be like that!” Melody laughed, she was happy, and that made Kushina smile looking at the soldier. “What kind of_ sister _would I be if I didn’t assist you in making horrible life decisions? Not that you really need the help.” She snickered as he dodged her playful swing. There was a warmth that Kushina had long since thought she would never feel again when her entire village was destroyed and because of it she was smiling like a loon. Since family was a sore spot for her, the topic hadn’t even crossed her mind when the soldier showed up or in the weeks that followed. _

“ _I am almost a hundred percent sure that,_ that _was an insult.” Arms crossed and obviously pouting, Kushina could still spot the admiration and amusement behind his brown eyes. They weren’t quite the same shade as Melody’s, no they weren’t that doe brown hue they were more milk chocolatey and there seemed to be a familiar twinkle in them that Kushina could relate with._

_“You can’t say that she is wrong. Luck isn’t exactly one of your strong suits.” The other, Brown, laughed. “Why think about that time where you nearly drowned in that sink slash pothole a couple of months back. We were all running in a line and out of the entire platoon you, who was in the middle of the formation, was the only one who found it.”_

_“I think I would disagree.” Chavez chimed in, tapping the other on the chest. “I think Nightingale here has the best of luck. Whether that be good or bad.” Brown seemed to think it over before looking over to them. Kushina felt Melody bring her arms up in a shrug and smirk. _

_“I like to say we have a swinging pendulum of luck. It’s always there you just never know which end you are on until it happens.”_

* * *

Melody couldn’t keep the frown from her lips as she watched the coming down out the window as she sat surrounded by scrolls filled with events she wanted to save and memorize. Kushina had long since wandered off into the recesses of her mind whether she be entertaining herself or not was of no concern to the twenty-eight-year-old at the moment. Yawning the brunette curled up their still unfamiliar, for her, child form as she pulled up the covers making sure not to disturb too many of the open contents. She had spent another night jotting down whatever information she could both remember and deemed relevant before shifting her studies over to the Uzumaki scrolls for the remainder of the night.

“As much as I would love to spend the rest of the day with you, my one true love, I fear that my arch-nemesis work simply refuses to see us physically together.” Curling in on the pillow, there was a moment of silence before the soldier slipped out of control and into the confines of her own warm oasis within. Memories of Maverick and her family had been on her mind as of late. Specifically, the one where she practically kidnaped the eldest Nightengale sibling to a week-long debauchery in Vegas. It was the whole shebang, drinking, strip clubs, tattoos - Melody had been entirely sober on that specific event pain did that for her - They were even given cards for, “Midnight Pleasures from Mistress Bambi.” To this day Melody could only imagine the cute little deer from that Disney film and back then in her drunken stupor, those images were nowhere near as censored as they were now. She remembered nothing about that specific night _except_ for those images. 

That was how profound that was.

Her sleepless bliss was not to be. A loud gurgled erupted from her stomach and while she lay there for a couple of seconds waiting for Kushina to kick in… the redhead did not. With a groan, she stood up chalking this up to some more experience navigating in her new body. The writing was simple enough, you remained seated and all the focus was on your hand… it only took her a good ten minutes before she was content with her calligraphy before she focussed on quantity. She no longer looked awkward while walking and Kushina had been nice enough to let her practice in the training field for a good thirty minutes. “Better safe than sorry.” The kunoichi echoed back her own words of advice to various people in her life before. 

Opening up the pantry, Melody couldn’t say she was surprised to find that they were once again low on food. Kushina wasn’t as picky of an eater as her soon, but the convenience with Ichiraku’s being as close as it was now was proving to be quite the deterrent and a rather relevant excuse. She started off slow, first having the kunoichi buy Ramen related ingredients and a promise of teaching her how to make it herself. It didn’t take Kushina long to learn that almost anything can be thrown into a pot and turned into Ramen, and now they were on the other side of the pendulum. Where Ichiraku’s was the only way the elder could keep any food in the house for longer than a few days.

Just as the glass finished filling, Melody felt a familiar tug and let the teen walk them over to the table full of seals and notes. It was no extensive timeline, but Melody was proud of what she was able to remember. It focussed mostly on any information leading up to the up-and-coming Nine-Tail Attack since that oldest bit of information she had and knew it would be the first to go. Additionally, anything that happened after didn’t exactly help them at the moment. The next batch of things she had started the other night were events that didn’t really interest the woman. The problem with that was that it was just about **everything** after Naruto left with Jiraiya, including the Fourth Shinobi War. Any interest she may have built up with time were shot since she had joined the military about the time when the Time-Skip became the big thing. Then, thanks to the internet, she could sit down and only read or watch things that related to what she was interested in. 

The Third Shinobi War. 

Since she had no idea that this information would be relevant Melody wasn’t kicking herself as much as she could have. A lot of time had been used in both the manga and (especially) the anime for filler leading up to the new era. _I suppose you could always trust Hindsight to make you realize just how much of an idjit you were before. _The Soldier thought with a sigh as she set the scroll down. _But it’s better than nothing, and heaven knows that I have relived everything I know about this war for years._ She paused and scanned over the papers. _Ya know, I wonder if knowing everyone’s birthday would help. I mean I know all the important ones: Kakashi’s, Kushina’s, Minato’s, Naruto’s, Jiraiya’s, Tsunade’s. Sasuke’s. Naruto’s._ The kunoichi shivered at the elder's thought. _Not exactly something that was on my bucket list either, though. _Her hand fell absently on their flat well-toned stomach, _I suppose I have about ten years to get over that-_ Violet eyes widened in realization as a grin slowly spread its way across Kushina’s lips in a very un-Kushina fashion. _Ten-ish years to come up with the perfect pranks. Oh-ho Challenge Accepted._

_\---_

[ January ]

{ A + 06 } 

Days turned to weeks and weeks to months. The next thing Kushina knew, the two of them had known each other for half the year. Now Melody was a bit more comfortable showing Kushina some more personal things than before. Though she had yet to have learned the brunettes only two regrets of that life. In return, Melody would ask her about her life in Uzushiogakure and her clan.

This typically occurred when they were studying Fūinjutsu, something that much to Kushina’s amazement Melody was picking up on real quick.

_“I knew a handful of different languages in my life, ‘shina. I made it my business to know because I enjoyed being able to talk and relate with other people. To understand them.” She smiled, looking up from her scroll, her brown eyes sparkling with life. “I didn’t like the idea of going in somewhere and having a language barrier.”_

_“But this isn’t a language.”_

_“Isn’t it? You have unique pieces that mean distinct things. You add certain pieces, a certain way to give it a specific meaning. You place these pieces in a specific order. You add a certain amount of emphasis to change the meaning. That sounds an awful lot like grammar and vocabulary and linguistics to me.” Kushina nodded, following along and wondering if anyone else had stopped to think about seals in such a manner._

_“_ _But didn’t that take you years? Each? I mean you are understanding some of this quicker than I am.” She added, “If I didn’t know any better I would think you were an Uzumaki.”_

_“Aren’t I?” Kushina chucked a blank scroll at her and they laughed. “Remember when I showed you two of the languages I learned. Remember what I said? If I am interested in it I learn quickly. That much is true for almost everyone. And Kushina, I have been interested in this for years.” The younger couldn’t help but smile, recognizing the determination behind those doe-brown eyes. “Plus, I have an exceptional teacher.” Kushina blushed, chucking a quill at her other half who cackled._

_A hand squeeze later and they went back to studying._

“Am the only one with an awful feeling about this entire mission?” Kushina voiced both her own and Melody’s thoughts. Originally, before Melody, Eiji-sensei cared little for the only female on the team. At first, she didn’t think too much about it, but the more she got to know Melody Kushina was surprised to find the lack of response toward his treatment. Finally, after a couple of weeks Kushina brought it up, and the elder explained to her that perhaps their sensei had some reasoning behind his displeasure for practically every kunoichi they had ever seen him with. She had speculated that perhaps during his time as a lower-level shinobi a kunoichi failed his team... the brunette had continued to mumble things to herself before explaining that they would have to prove their competency and ability to him.

It wasn’t the response she had wanted to hear, but she took it as it was. Now though, Kushina wasn’t sure whether those words of wisdom were spoken truthfully or another one of Melody’s schemes to motivate her into studying. Either way, it worked, and she had a feeling it wasn’t the first time Melody had dealt with something or someone like this.

Currently, they were walking with a client on their way cross-country to one some land that they -being the lower ninja- had no need to know the name of. _If there is one thing I will forever standby, it is that there is no such thing as a ‘simple C-rank mission’_ Melody grumbled mentally as they took point. Melody was off-put by the entire situation and had calmed, it was her gut-feeling after explaining she knew nothing about specifics when it came to missions post-birth. The hairs that stood at an end on the back of their neck told the teen that the concern was genuine. 

That was enough for the kunoichi to go over everything they did know. Which didn’t amount to much.

Their client was in his thirties, apparently some noble of the lands. Where exactly they, the Genin, had not been told. Melody’s first observation was that the client was far too observant when he noted how he hadn’t seen anyone with their hair. Kushina had shrugged it off, grumbling back something about leaders needing to be perceptive. The next thing Melody called bullshit on was the evasive questions that he had asked them. Ahikiro and Manabu included. _There is a distinct difference between small talk and phishing for information ‘shina! If Eiji were not here, I’d…_ It wasn’t what he was saying so much as were his hands fell on her when he spoke that bothered the kunoichi. It wasn’t anything evasive, he was just so damn handsy.

If she were to be entirely honest Melody had begun to grate on her nerves, but everything she had pointed out was valid. Especially when she finally explained their formation. _Alright , let's say all of this is just some overly paranoid twenty-some-odd year old in your head on edge. Explain the logic behind our current set up ‘shina. _In all of their prior training sessions, typically they would place Manabu, their Taijutsu expert (of the kids) on point. Instead, he was covering their rear. _It would make more sense if he were with the client and Eiji who is with said client whispering who knows fucking what covered our arse._ Akihiro who was by far the “most diversely skilled” out of the three of them was a couple of paces behind her. Not bad, but not great either. 

They were a good team that complemented one another extremely well. Melody had been quick to state such in their first few weeks of training as one. _Remember everything that I have taught you and that we have learned together. _Melody replied from the confines of their mind,picking up on the teen's uncertainty. _We both know that I can’t take over if things hit the fan. And furball is out of the question._ Kushina gulped slightly, regretting the promise that Melody had made with the Hokage when they had woken up from their self-induced coma after she had arrived.

“We are going to set up camp here!” Eiji-sensei called from behind. “Kushina go secure the perimeter.”

“Hai!” As she ran off into the forest she heard Akihiro voice his opinion on sending her out. He had been relatively quiet during the trip thus far though as she glanced back the few times she had she could see that something was bothering him. Positive his comment was something about him being the best tracker, she continued on with her given assignment. Kushina had agreed with Melody’s assessment of him being as competent as he was arrogant. “Well, it looks clear.” Kushina thought aloud as she circled back to where she had originally run off to. _“_ _But seriously, can you at least help out here?”_ Melody remained silent within the confines of their mind. “ _Play_ _lookout,”_ Kushina added. “ _It’s not that I don’t trust my team.”_

“I don’t,” Relief graced the youngers expression as the elder leaned back against the tree in front of Kushina when the smoke cleared. “Nous savons tous deux qu’il se passe quelque chose ici.” Kushina nodded and handed her a scroll, “Je maintiens ma déclaration précédente. Je n’interviendrai pas.” The not-quite-a-clone bit her finger and unsealed the scroll before proceeding to change into her uniform. “Le Hokage n’est pas encore conscient que cela…” She motioned between the two of them as she continued to speak in the only language Kushina picked up quickly: French. “Peut arriver. Nous ne pouvons pas nous permettre des erreurs.” 

“Hai.” Doe-brown eyes bore into Kushina’s violet. A scroll was returned to her with a backup set of clothes sealed within them. Knowing that Melody would be nearby was enough to calm Kushina’s speeding heart. She was a natural and had been the deciding factor in the Third’s ruling. The old man wasn’t _technically_ wrong when he believed it was Kushina he was working with... he wasn’t exactly right either. Melody explained that she had a decade to understand the theory of chakra in her world and their body would take time to adapt to what her mind was used to performing at. Kushina hadn’t quite realized what an exceptional asset Melody was until recently, but the brunette stuck by her word. “Merci beaucoup mon oisea sans cage.”

“And we know exactly what is at risk.” The brunette finished by throwing her waist-length hair in a tight bun. Turning to find her better half-smiling thankfully up at her had the tanned woman blush. “Ne vous sous-estimez pas.” Kneeling down, Melody placed both hands on the teen's shoulder. “Adieu mon cher cheval noir.” Both confident and reassured, Kushina ran back toward the camp, not in the least bit surprised to find that the client had some expensive tent set up. 

“All clear sensei.” Eiji looked up at her from his position next to the tent and nodded before returning to carving up a piece of wood.

“You’ve got second watch, I suggest you get to sleep early.” Kushina didn’t know how to explain it, other than he sounded _off._ A quick lookup told and the various beautiful hues of oranges and yellow told anyone with a set of yes that their daylight hours were limited. If she had to guess who had first watch all her money would be on Akihiro since he was perched upon a branch instead of within the confines of a tent. “Sadao offered his tent to anyone, not on shift.”

“Thanks but no thanks.” The decline was out of her mouth before Eiji-sensei had even finished the offer Instead she made her way toward Akihiro. Her plum haired teammate spared her a glance before returning to his own musings as she lay down. Even though Melody was elsewhere, the teen could practically hear the woman’s snarky remarks about perverts and the tactical inefficiency of this entire setup. 

“Get to sleep.” Gruff but not insulting was not exactly a tone she was used to hear coming out of this teammate. “You’re no use to us exhausted.” As if to ensure that she knew he was talking to her a pebble fell on her chest. “You’re barely used to us at all.” Choosing to take a page out of the elder's book, the redhead merely rolled onto her side and ignored that last comment. She knew that she had to gain their trust what she didn’t know was how she had lost what little they had built up before Sensei left for that mission all the months ago. Nobody was perfect, but as Melody said, something must have happened because Eiji-sensei came back different and the other two picked up on it. Akihiro more so than Manabu.

A couple more minutes would pass before she felt herself lull off. 

_“ **You think she can help you?**_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Question: There are going to be various points in time where Melody may spring a foreign language or another to Kushina. Would you prefer that the translation appear as they had in this chapter (at the end in the notes. Or perhaps the beginning?) or how I have seen others use it (immediately after the speech is said.  
> ie: "Foreign Text" [Translation]
> 
> Foreign Dialogue as it appeared in text:  
> “Nous savons tous deux qu’il se passe quelque chose ici.” [We both know there’s something going on here.]   
> “Je maintiens ma déclaration précédente. Je n’interviendrai pas.” [I stand by my earlier statement. I will not intervene.]  
> “Le Hokage n’est pas encore conscient que cela… ” [The Hokage is not aware that this…]   
> “Peut arriver. Nous ne pouvons pas nous permettre des erreurs.” [Can happen. We cannot afford to make mistakes.]  
> "Merci beaucoup mon oiseau sans cage." [Thank you very much, my bird without a cage]  
> "Ne vous sous-estimez pas. Adieu mon cher cheval noir [Don't underestimate yourself. Farewell my dear dark horse]  
> \----  
> Character descriptions: Team 5  
> Kushina: Pin Straight knee length Red Hair and violet eyes. 163cm  
> Akihiro: Long Pompadour Fade and grey eyes. A full head taller than Kushina.  
> Manabu Kohaku: Spiky brown hair and green eyes. Taijutsu specialty. Slightly taller than Kushina.  
> Eiji: Textured Wavy Brown hair with fringe and brown eyes. 175.26 cm (apx 5'9")


	5. What the hell is going on?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even knowing what she did the teen could not wrap her head around it. She saw the memories, felt the emotions but it still didn't sink in. Melody was excellent at misdirecting. Kushina would go out on a limb and say that she was the best there was at it. Being able to hide away things from your other hand in your shared mind. The woman didn't live in a black and white world, then or now. That was made evident by opinions shared on the current state of affairs as they came up, and the nights they spent together.
> 
> Just as the teen believed she was beginning to understand the twenty-some-odd she would throw a wrench in it. Still, Kushina was proud of what they had managed to get done in the months since she had arrived. With Melody at her side, she felt like she could take on the world.

[ January ]

{ A + 6 }

**Blood.**

Snapping awake with the sudden assault on her nose, the kunoichi shot up into a defensive stance. A scan of the immediate vicinity proved that nothing was out of the ordinary. Hues of orange and bronze tickled the skies as the sun neared the horizon. The scent left as her senses woke and her mind tried to piece together what she may have dreamt. Perhaps she had accidentally slipped into a memory that Melody kept suppressed. Kushina was under no illusion that the soldiers' time in the service had been serene. When nothing still came to mind the next logical explanation was perhaps that Melody had gotten into a scuttle and had brought along a fresh batch of memories. 

She had returned. 

But her memories were as painfully uneventful as her own during guard. _I don’t know why you seem surprised._ The brunette grumbled, further confusing the kunoichi. _I would still be out there, you know. Had you not just **forced** me back. _This wasn’t unheard of, but it had been some time since she had pulled back Mels intentionally or not. _I don’t know what you did, but I was rudely interrupted from my own musings and found myself back here. _The teen was not only perplexed about her sudden rejoining but also the lack of interest that the eldest seemed to have for it. Not that it was out of character, but Melody had been feisty and irked since they had left the village.

That had been a couple of days ago and since they hadn’t the time to get far away enough to split the two had been joined since. The eldest had been relatively quiet during the whole ordeal, not that Kushina could blame her. There was nothing interesting was going on. After about a day the soldier had muttered something about working on something and hadn’t acknowledged the teen since. She’d never admit it aloud, but the lack of communication had her feeling isolated and neglected in their vast meadow. 

But the mission must go on.

“How long do you think they are going to be in there?” Kushina couldn’t help but shrug at Manabu’s inquiry. Their guess was as good as hers. Until her twenty-fourth birthday, Melody knew next near to nothing about what exactly she would have been doing… even after Minato apparently picked up a squad of his own. Even if the teen wanted to ask the woman hadn’t been answering. Sensei had told them to stay back as he escorted Sadao to the hut. 

“I know as much as you do about the mission.” She answered honestly, shifting her weight to her right leg and crossing her arms. 

“Yet you don’t trust Sadao…” She shook her head, “Or Eiji-sensei.” The redhead could pick up his confusion, worry, and anger when she shook her head once more. A part of her wished she could explain herself as he shook her head once more. She understood the necessity for a team to trust their sensei. Without them, the Genin mortality rate would be far higher than it currently stood. Jōnin had experience behind them and could manage on their own when and if necessary.

“I refuse to blindly trust.” She answered with a frown, speaking from both sets of experiences. “Trust and respect should be earned lest you be taken advantage of. That goes doubly so for those who have done nothing but hindered and belittled me whilst we share company.” They were all in the same class and she knew that she had beat the crap out of Akihiro a few times to get him to back off of not only her but several other students in the Academy. 

“He was training you.” Their conversation had garnered the plum-haired shinobi’s interest. 

“Hospitalization a couple of times a year due to training, normal… expected even.” It only now donned on the teen that she didn’t feel safe or comfortable with anyone on her team at this very moment. She knew where she stood on her own against the two, individually she stood a better chance against Manabu. “You cannot honestly tell me to my face that you believe the hell I went through could be considered ‘training’. And if so, why in Kami’s name have neither of you been hospitalized even a fourth as many times?” Taking on both of them would get ugly, especially if they both were actually trying to hurt her. Ideally, Manabu was the neutral party in the team, but his recent inquiry had shifted him away from casual ally to a potential threat in her mind. “Either he was trying to kill me and end my shinobi career... or you are.” 

“Kunoichi-”

“No, Shinobi.” She growled, clenching her fists. “I am under the impression that everyone out here is defending the village with their lives. Just because an infinitesimal fraction of us are females doesn’t mean we do that any differently. But that’s an argument for another time.” She was mad, but she knew she should be furious. Melody should be writhing with anger and fighting to throw fists at this point. Pushing down those concerns, she turned to her green-eyed teammate. “Manabu I was hospitalized. For a week straight once! A week! And not only did no one question it but the moment I was back on my feet I was right back in the hospital.” There had been many times where she imaged herself watching the life fade out of their sensei’s brown eyes as she strangled him. She had gotten a bit creative when Melody joined in. “I respect his position in our ranks and the Hokage’s trust in him. But I do not trust him as a person. I do not trust him with my life. And there is nothing either of you can do to make me change my mind.” 

She wasn’t under the impression that her Sensei had any idea that she was the Kyuubi’s jinchūriki. The only bone she was willing to throw was that he, and everybody else, knew that she was an Uzumaki. Had things started off like this from the get-go, then maybe, maybe, she wouldn’t have held as much resentment about it as she did. Melody had initially attempted to play devil’s advocate and offer him knowing she contained who she did. Yet, even she, who was morally grey herself, had concluded that their life was in danger around the man and seemingly for no rhyme or reason.

“-So-thing’s wrong!” Conversation aside, the three had their backs to one another with kunai’s at the ready as the immediate area was encased in a cloud of light blue smoke. Melody’s sudden warning still ringing in her ears.

“Who are you and where did you come from?” Akihiro demanded as the area slowly cleared and a familiar brunette stood in front of them. How Melody had managed a Bushin so suddenly _intrigued_ her. Why she had done so frightened her. It was so sudden that her mental companion was in nothing more than a simple white tunic and she looked cross.

“Days?! You didn’t notice, and I had to fight through hell for days to tell you myself!” Kushina cringed Melody’s hair looked more like a frazzled mane than curls when she was angry. It was to the point that she looked like she had been standing in humidity for the past several days. “The three of you. Need. To. Wake. Up!” With every word she chucked rocks at them, each one growing in size. “They locked me up!” She seethed, “Or better yet. They tried to get to Fido, and I had to lock myself up with him. Do you know how bloody annoying that git is?” Easily catching on, Kushina and Akihiro shot their hands into the proper position.

“Kai!”

There were many things Kushina wanted to wake up to. A puppy, happy to start the day with her. A giant bowl of salt ramen fresh off the oven. Mikoto in with a handmade bento. A pair of beautiful cerulean blues. Yet, here she was once again tied up in the middle of the night with no idea where she was. Her immediate thought shouldn’t have been, _at least I’m not alone this time_ ,but it was. Dread washed over her as she kicked herself for being grateful that someone else had to endure this seemingly recurring nightmare with her. 

“W-what! How did you-” Violet eyes locked with grey and Akihiro blanched. Rightly so. Genjutsu had _never_ been her specialty. Or even something she was barely good at. Kushina was consistently slow at realizing she was in one, something that apparently _hadn’t_ changed. And for every second it took her to realize she was in one, it would take her about as long if not longer to finagle her way out. What Akihiro, and the asshole who put them in one, didn’t know was that Melody was everything but a stickler for the rules. When something didn’t work, she found another means of getting things done.

The brunette had only said it once, but the words still echoed in their mind. 

_“I never cared much to appreciating doors that stood between me and my mission.” The redhead cocked her head to the side, not quite understanding what the eldest was trying to get at. It was their off day from training and she had wanted to show Melody just how bad she was at Genjutsu, so they walked over to the training grounds and asked two sparing Chūnin if they could lend a hand. Now here they were stuck, and it had still taken the teen a good five minutes to realize she was already in the technique. “I don’t think the wolf did either, so I suppose I can relate most with him.” Doe-brown eyes locked with confused and slightly annoyed violet, then let out a sigh. “Look, if a straw house stood before me. I threw an explosive at it. Was it made of wood? I threw a little more. Metal? I covered that bitch in explosive. Why? Because it was in my way and keeping me from protecting my comrades and doing my job.” Melody motioned around to the empty training field. “‘Shina you have a seemingly unlimited amount of explosive at your disposal. You don’t even have to worry about running out.” Both violet and brown eyes gleamed as the teen caught onto the eldest’s train of thought. “So the way I look at it, knock them off their feet.”_

“Time and place.” She growled in response as their ‘client’ in question cautiously looked over to their sensei who looked more impressed than anything else. “You snake!” She seethed, pulling against the constraints only to hear a grunt from her conscious teammate coincide with the bindings tightening around her own wrists. _‘I freaking knew you couldn’t be trusted!’ _

“Ugh, what’s going on?” Manabu grumbled, breaking free from the technique at last. 

“I’m sure Orochimaru wouldn’t appreciate that usage of his beloved summoning,” Eiji replied with a smirk as he twirled a kunai around his finger. 

“This isn’t what you promised.” Sadao sneered at their leader. 

“Change of plan. Learn to improvise, won't you?” Violet eyes froze when she scanned his forehead protector. _Funny how an insignificant thing such as a slash is the only indication that someone has turned on the village. _Melody's remarks from months ago echoed in her ears.

“Eiji-sensei?!” 

“Idiot, look at his headband,” Akihiro growled, grey eyes never leaving the mirthful brown. “He’s a traitor and a spy. You’re going to die for this.” 

“For what? I haven’t done anything wrong…” The Uzumaki's eyes narrowed as dots began connecting in her mind. “Yet.” They had maybe two weeks with their sensei before he left for his own mission. Two weeks was not enough time to get to know a person, especially a shinobi. “And even when I do. Your village isn’t going to miss the two of you. Probably not even going to notice…” Brown eyes gleamed as they locked with violet. Two weeks and suddenly a huge change in personality, but who was going to listen to a couple of recently promoted Genin. How were they to be able to know that something was wrong?! 

Even if they had said something, would anyone have listened?

“Shut up!” She roared, already knowing what the missing-nin was getting at. 

“But you…”

“ Shut." 

“You, they would lose their minds over… wouldn’t they?” 

“Kushina?” 

“So she is one of the last survivors of her clan!” Wide violet eyes glanced over her shoulder to grey. “She is no special than Manabu or myself and people will be looking. The third Hokage is better than that. He’ll send people out for us!” 

“I, nor my associates, couldn’t give a shit about her bloodline anymore than your own. But she has been keeping something from you. A big dark fury something.”

“And if she was?!” Manabu shout, “Everyone has their secrets. Each Clan their own secret set of techniques or abilities. She is no different than you or I.” His words were touching, even if they were an unintentional lie. The number of people who knew this particular secret should only be counted on one hand. Yet here was this outsider, this traitor who had managed to get his hands on this bit of information. And he wasn’t even working alone, he had’ associates.’ 

“Alright then, let’s test that out.” She wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball and wake up under that bright moonlight again. If they knew about Kurama, then the three of them were boned. There was little hope that the three of them would be able to take on their own sensei holding back. Nevertheless, a missing-nin who had been spying on them for months. 

_Mels I could really use your help right now…_

* * *

“The moment I break free from these chains I will destroy everything you have ever cared for.”

“I have twenty-eight years of wisdom rolling around in this head of hers. I warn you, an unhealthy portion of it are annoying ass songs I still can’t seem to get out of my mind.” Melody grumbled as she kept her back to the chained beast. She felt as much a prisoner in their mind now as he, being completely disconnected from the outside world after her stunt. Had the tailed-beast not gloated enough about what was going on and how pitiful they were… she would not have chanced busting out only to allow that fuck in.

“First, I will find those two teammates of yours and snap their necks.”

“ _Seriously_ , I am not above stooping to that level…” The brunette warned, growing more and more annoyed as the beast continued raging. She couldn’t tell you how many of his little scenarios she had sat through by now. Or if she could count that high.

“There is an entire village of people you care deeply for. Perhaps I will find that lazy shinobi who knows too much for his own good and break every bone in his body. Listening to his screams and pleas for his friend to stop.”

“This is your **final** warning.”

“Then I will find that black-haired friend of yours. I will corner her and then rip her skin right off of her with your own two hands.”

“Dog goes woof, cat goes meow…” It was a whisper. She was hoping to catch his attention by doing so. Make him wonder just what exactly she was mumbling. Instead, he continued his rant.

“Next I will find that _white-haired_ man you absolutely adore.” She could practically hear his glee when she tensed, but she continued uninterrupted. Her voice just below a normal speaking level.

“Bird goes tweet, and mouse goes squeak.” The King of the Tailed Beasts didn’t even bat an eyelash from his surely uncomfortable position.

“They call him what, _White Fang?_ I wonder how he will taste between mine.” The Soldier was still sitting cross-legged with her back to the demon until this point with her arms crossed. Now out of pure annoyance, she slowly turned to where she could see him and glared as she continued unwilling to back down.

“Cow goes moo. Frog goes croak, and the elephant goes toot.” They locked eyes, and she knew she had his attention now, but the gleam in his eye sent shivers down her spine.

“Last but not least after I have destroyed your village and everyone you two hold dear. I will break your heart!”

“Ducks say quack and fish go blub, and the seal goes OW OW OW.” She had woken up in the impossible. She learned how to open up and share her mind with a pubescent teenager. Took responsibility for the girl and ensure that she’d be prepared for the woes of her future. Hell, she had made an attempt at getting to know the full of himself furball bare before her. 

“The _blond_ one shall stand before me. No-you! He will look at you with those cerulean blue eyes that make your heart flutter. Pleading cerulean blue eyes wondering why?” This was without a doubt going to put a hamper on befriending the annoying Tailed Beast in the near future. But frankly, as far as she was concerned, he had brought it upon himself... and she had tried to warn him.

“But there’s one sound that no one knows…” Walking toward her fellow prisoner she felt the waves of anger and annoyance rolling off of the magnificent beast. There was a piece of her that wanted nothing more than to crawl into a corner, bide her time and deal with him when they were both of a calm mind. But she was still Melody fucking Nightengale. 

And nobody fucked with her family. 

Past.  
Present.  
Future.  
Or alternate reality.

“WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY?!”

* * *

“Finding your head a little quieter than usual?” Sadao interrupted, “I am sure you have found that your companions are both out of reach.” The kunoichi scowled as the plump man spoke. “Don’t get me wrong, the feisty defensive mechanism of yours put up quite the fight. I might even say she would have pushed me out… Had she not realized what my true intentions were and hid away with my prize.” 

“Eiji-sensei why?” Kushina wondered if Manabu should have pursued the shinobi path. He was a brilliant Taijutsu specialist, yes. Manabu cared far too deeply for someone in this field. It was as much a strength as it was a weakness. It hadn’t done Mels any good, and it didn’t seem to be doing him any favors. 

“What’s it going to take to convince you kid?” Smoke surrounded their sensei’s familiar form and when it cleared a stranger stood in his place. Dirty blond hair. Narrowed emerald green eyes. Melody’s distrust of beautiful looking people seemed to make sense to the hormone-filled teen. _They can get away with more than your average person because of their looks. Once they realize it they tend to go down a dangerous path._ On his forehead no longer lay a hidden leaf headband with a slash through it, but instead that of Stone. _‘Fuck.’_

“How long?” She growled, ensuring to keep the other two threats within her peripherals. 

“Months.”

“Bullshit.” Manabu spat vehemently in denial. 

“You caught on quicker than the others. Even your dear Akihiro, and yet after everything they let me continue to treat you like I did.” Chuckling echoed in the wind. “So much for camaraderie.” 

“Kushina…”

“Shut it." She didn’t have the time or the patience to let him get into her mind. All the blame had been directed at him. Whenever she so much as thought about placing any on her fellow peers the thought of them being punished or beaten how she had would flash in her mind. She didn’t know if they could take it. But she knew that she could. Doubly so once she had become whole. 

“To think. His final words were an apology for you three. It was almost as if he knew he was walking into a trap… or had figured it out sometime during his demise." 

“You monster!" 

“If you knew what was good for you kid, you would take a page out of my book.” Faux Eiji chirped. “The transition was easier than I thought it would be. Says much about the state of your village in the midst of this no? How lucky was I to come across a recluse, someone who nobody knew well enough to question the slight hiccups.” Kushina kept her arm up to prevent Manabu from doing anything that would endanger himself or Akihiro. Sadao had mentioned Kushina. Both she and Kurama were safe. Locked away somewhere in their mind. Somewhere she couldn’t reach.

“Are you done gloating!" The flurry of shuriken shot in their direction was her answer. 

“To think... the Anbu they had sent after me was the sensei of my target.” Emerald eyes landed on her and she couldn’t help herself. She gulped. This was so far above them. Not only was this exactly one of those ‘typical C-rank missions that went to shit’ Melody always talked about. Said brunette was nowhere to be heard. They had been unintentionally feeding the enemy information about themselves and who knows what else. They were supposed to trust their sensei. None of this had been so much as whispered about in the academy! 

The Academy.

Faux Eiji’s voice continued prattling on in the background as darker thoughts tumbled in the redhead's mind. She went over the last conversations she had with friends back in the village. The last thing she had said to the Hokage. Mikoto had been looking at her strangely and was insistent about being careful as she left. Violet eyes couldn’t help but water as she wondered.

_‘Was this the plan all along?’_


	6. After Sunny Days, No Traces Remain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Melody couldn't be too upset. It had been six months before they had run into a mission gone wrong. So she had to sit down with fluffy for a bit longer than she would have liked. The kids were taken care of and with their sensei there she needn't worry. At least that was what she told herself before a certain redhaired kunoichi popped into their mind. It would seem that some things never changed. You could only rely on yourself and if you wanted ensure something done the best way you had to do it yourself.

Book One: 

Chapter Five

[ A Lifetime Ago ]

“Seriously, is this not rubbing anyone else the wrong way?” The recently promoted Sergeant didn’t bother waiting to be more than a step outside the briefing room before speaking up her mind. If that’s what you could call the thrown together room. “The hairs on the back of my neck are literally standing up on end.” She used her free hand to rub the offending hairs.

“You’re seriously freaking out over this?” The hazel-eyed Corporal laughed as he placed a hand on his shoulder. When she didn’t respond in kind, he paused and continued this time with a creased brow. “I’d think you would be over the anxiety with how well you did the last few times we went out.” Her eyes narrowed as she shrugged off his hand. 

“Complacency kills Corporal.” A deep, soothing voice interrupted from behind them. Both soldiers looked back at their team leader. “I can’t tell you how many times someone’s gut feeling has either been the reason the entire squad made it out alive…” Nightengale smirked over to Baker. “Or could’ve been.” Doe-brown eyes smiled. Both the Corporal and recently promoted sergeant frowned. Neither of their transfers was clean. Jackson had joked a couple of nights ago that only he and Dickinson were part of the original members of the team and that only their sister’s team leader, Sergeant Aurora, stuck around. “It’s not something to take lightly.” 

“I swear everyone runs to our defense ‘Gale.” Doe-brown eyes shot away from their team leader and glared at her friend once more. 

“Shut up Baker.” She chirped, hitting him upside the dome, and range-walked her way to catch up to the bulk of the squad, all while her mind ran through the brief once more. 

The enemy had gained a lot of ground in recent months and with each day it seemed like they picked up more and more speed in doing so. They had pulled out of this country not too long ago and practically watched as it went up in flames. Just like before, the newest group was more violent than the last.

The politicians would have you think there was no other choice but to go back. And luckily for them, it worked.

Enemy forces had just taken an area less than a hundred miles from their Forward Operating Base (FOB). Coincidentally, they had gone from the least mortared FOB to the most in three days. It was up to Fox Company to push back their lines and regain control in nearby areas. First platoon was heading out east and second platoon was heading out west, both to flank the enemy and catch them off-guard. Their armored calvary compromised third platoon, and they were distributed as needed. Then there was good o Fourth Platoon, leading the bulk of the charge. Or as she liked to say, playing decoy.

Foxtrot wasn’t exactly your usual Company. No, they were the Company thrown together who had people who specialized in very specific things. Typically, the ones you called on when you needed a specific job done quickly and effectively. Normally distributed amongst other platoons and not kept together. Unfortunately, the only hub they had in-country was the current one in danger. Echo Company, their sister company and full of most of the ground force for the base, were out of the wire and compromised themselves. Meaning good Ol Fox Company were on their own and would have to fall back on their training. If that failed, then they’d do what they do best… 

Improvise like a motherfucker. 

The entire thing sounded like something that could have been avoided and was boiling over into a shite storm she wanted nothing to do with. Making matters worse, she had a lot to say about the shite plan they were given. Luckily, for the briefer, she knew that Staff Sergeant Wolfe would do his damn best to not only get the mission done but get them out alive.

“Hey, Doc!” Shaken from her thoughts the brunette looked up to the gray-eyed private who was waving his hand in front of her. She smirked and swiped his hand away as she spoke.

“How many times do I got to tell ya, I ain’t no doctor Smith.” Gray eyes twinkled mischievously in response and a smirk slowly spread across his features. Her fellow brunette had the potential of being handsome, but the buzz-cut did him no services.

“You’ve brought us all back every time you have gone out with us. Even when you were part of Echo last year... when you weren’t even a Whiskey.” She had learned to deal with the kid’s romanticized ways. While she couldn’t tell you what job he could do better than handling that gunny position… she still didn’t think the kid deserved to serve in this hellhole. “You cut into Dexter back then and earned yourself a ticket back to the states for some crash medical-on-crack course. From what I hear that wasn’t the first time either, doc. Your reputation precedes you.” 

“They taught me how to keep you alive, that doesn’t make me a doctor.” Baker glanced over and waggled his brows. He’d been saying for weeks how the kid wanted to shag her. Luckily after the ass-beating, she handed the Specialist who tried the week she had returned, many kept a wide berth from her and anyone she associated with. She wasn’t above breaking a few bones to defend herself or others. This side of the war was the reason she urged other females to pursue other routes. “I don’t even do any meatball surgery if I can help it.”

“But you can….”

“To the most minor degree.”

“Take the fucking compliment, sergeant.” Wolfe laughed as they hung around for the vehicles to make their way to them. Nightingale grumbled and readjusted her assault pack in response. “Now, are you fully stocked?”

“I’m offended.” She laughed as throwing on her shades. “Ninety percent of everything on me is medical related. You need tourniquets I got em. Y’need splints I have those too and if needed a damn knife to make some or to play operation on you. My left cargo is filled with enough ripped fabric to fill stomachs if needed. The only things I don’t have on me medical-related is water, my weapon,” She raised the M4 in response, “And the ammunition needed for it.”

“And the extra you surely have in your pack.” Jackson and Baker laughed at Dickinson’s snort. Had she lighter skin, the medic would have flushed. Thanks to her mixed ethnicity and the soaring heat, her complexion hadn’t changed. 

“Oh shush, If I recall correctly you kissed me when we were bogged down and running low on what we left with.” The entire squad laughed at that. “As Baker refuses to let me or anyone else forget. I am a Juggernaut of medical aide.”

\-----

[ January ]

{ A + 06 }

“Kushina?!” Startled the brunette was looking worriedly down at her companion as violet eyes slowly opened and adjusted to the bright light, behind her the tailed best continued roaring about one thing or another though he was long since forgotten when she spotted the teen laying on the grass meters away.

“Melody?” Without warning the fourteen-year-old threw herself up and wrapped her arms around the tan-skinned soldier. There was an uptake in noise from their third resident and the twenty-eight-year-old pondered the idea of muzzling the tailed beast. 

“What the hell is going on out there?!” She hadn’t known what would happen to either of them if something became of Kushina. It was not a thought she wanted to think about, the repercussions were too great and she would have no-one but herself to blame. That was part of the reason why she dared try to help the kids when the Fox had boasted about how incompetent they were and how they couldn’t find their way out of a maze with a map.

“Mels! You’re okay.” 

“Kushina, what the hell?”

“I need your help.” Violet eyes pleaded to doe-brown. “He killed him,” The brunette tensed as the violet-eyed redhead bawled her eyes out in her stomach. She wasn’t an idiot and worked well with little to no information, but at this point, Melody hadn’t the vaguest idea as to what the fuck Kushina was going on about. “He forced Akihiro and Manabu to fight, Mels.” Kushina hiccuped clinching the back of the soldier’s uniform. “He made him kill him.” Her initial reaction was to yank the Genin back and demand clearer guidance, it’s what she would have done with one of her soldiers. Luckily for Kushina, the teen had wrapped the brunette around her finger in these six months. That and someone had to worry about how the giant ball of fur behind them.

“You have to use more than pronouns here.” Melody chuckled, pulling the teen back and looking her companion in the eye. “Who killed who? Who forced whose hands? And what the hell was a fat man doing in our mind?” Melody tried her best to ignore the cackling from behind her as Kushina filled her in on what happened since she had last seen her and their comrades.

“Mels...” Concern racked over the sergeant as she looked back at her friend. Baker hadn’t called her that in what seemed like years. Not even when she helped out Foxtrot years ago. They had an unspoken understanding that if their childhood names were used, something was wrong. 

And something was indeed very wrong.

They had learned from their earlier invasions, for lack of a better word, that when one entered a typically busy area and there was no traffic on the streets at all. Something big would go down. Everyone knew that. This wasn’t their first time around the track and the tension in the HUMWV tightened tenfold. “I got you covered, Seb.” 

There was an annoying ringing in her ears. 

Ten times worse than when one forgets to throw on ear protection on before firing at the range. Adrenaline kicked in as her vision cleared, and her mind began piecing things together. One moment she was looking back at her childhood friend, offering him a small smile to ease his nerves as they entered what seemed to be an empty town. A telltale sign that one was driving into an ambush.

The next couple of chunks of memory flickered like still-frames behind her eyes every time she closed her eyes to blink while reloading. The first was complete blackness and the unforgiving smell of gas. Next, she was looking up, or what she thought was up, into a pair of familiar hazel eyes wrought with worry. A hand reached out. She vaguely remembered shaking her head. Hazel eyes stilled and hardened over then looked over to where she was apparently pointing. He wasn’t happy… she could tell, but he did as he was told.

Without warning, the ringing in her ears stopped as she peeked over cover and fired downrange. The familiar, reassuring woodpecker sounds of the SAW blasted her eardrums in bursts of six. She barely heard her own one-two, one-two-three bursts twice before everything went silent. Focused entirely on emptying her clip to provide covering fire for their sister team to get to higher ground, the medic only realized she was out when Jeremy had provided no recoil.

She saw her own gloved hands in front of her as she attempted to pull herself out of the wreckage. Another blink and she was looking down at the tangled, mangled wiring ensnaring her ankle where open foot space had once been. Sounds of a firefight peppered in and out as her heart frantically beat in her eardrums at the thought of being electrocuted. 

“MEDIC!” 

Unable to rely on her hearing and unable to risk the chance someone needed her Nightingale’s sights shot over to Jackson and his M240 for a reality check. When she saw that he was firing, and she wasn’t hearing anything, she shook her head before providing covering fire for him to reload. An M4 firing downrange burst or not wasn’t nearly as frightening as the M240 SAW, but it got the job done and within a matter of what seemed like minutes Jackson was back up raining hell upon the enemy. Or at least in their direction.

“This is so far above us, Mels.” The brunette bit her lower lip, knowing what she had to do. “I wouldn’t ask you.” The kunoichi paused, regaining her breath. “You know I wouldn’t ask you if I could help it.” Melody held her red-haired friend close, unknowingly digging her gloved hands into the fabric of her clothing as she thought up the best way to proceed. “He’s dead, Mels. There was no way that his Taijutsu was on par...” The redhead shivered reflexively pulling herself into the brunette. “Eiji-sensei. He was in the Anbu.” The soldier stilled as pieces of a larger puzzle fell into place. “They killed him months ago before you showed up.”

“What happened to your first sensei, Kushina?” Her words were bitter, even to herself. She hadn’t realized how lucky she was to have had technology at her palm. Always seconds away from information, she was lucky to have had a childhood where that wasn’t the case or she’d have been worse off. None of these names were ringing any bells of the time before and she had only just begun to build her own understanding of the world as it stands. 

“Nobody knows. He just went missing one day.” Melody slowly brought the kunoichi to the ground as her legs gave way. “We trained with Jiraiya-sensei’s team for a bit. Then Eiji showed up and then you.” Melody racked her mind for anytime Jiraiya or anyone else may have let that minor piece of information slip.

She came up with nothing.

“You know if I do this now, there may be no way for me to block out these memories.” She whispered, having decided on her plan of action. “You’re too emotionally attached right now, and knocking you out would leave you in a vulnerable position.”

“Us.”

“Right.” Melody smiled.

“I don’t understand why you hide that from me.”

“You’re still a child.” The soldier answered honestly, knowing this conversation was inevitable. “I don’t want you to have to grow up too fast and if there is anything I can do to prevent that I will.” As it stood everyone in her generation and the next were already boned. Regardless or not they liked it, there was a war coming, and she doubted that anyone could stop it. 

“We’re at war.” The soldier frowned at that statement. “I’m a shinobi.” Kushina’s eyes drooped, and she yawned, “W-what are you doing?”

“Kushina, forgive me.”

\-----

[ A Lifetime Ago ]

Had Jackson not come around and tapped her on the shoulder, she wouldn’t have known the fighting had stopped. He must have known that her ears were blown because after they had all gathered around he had grabbed her chin and shifted her head to look at both her ears. Nightingale didn’t need to hear him to know that the next word out of his mouth was: “Shit.” When you lived with people for months on end, you caught onto their tendencies.

When she was free from his grasp, the medic made her rounds with the rest of their Team. Unable to hear anything that they were talking about. Jackson was her first stop, and outside of a couple of bruises and scrapes, he was fine. She didn’t bother wasting any supplies on him, choosing instead to slap some dirt onto his scraps to stop the oozing. Hygenic? No, but it got the job done and saved supplies. SPC Dickinson was up next. He was sitting behind her when shite hit the fan and was a bit more beat up than Jackson. She had noticed him favoring his leg somewhere in her hazy memories. Given their location and their most recent encounter with the not-so-friendly locals, she could only offer a frown as an apology when she tapped his boot. She couldn’t risk removing it here. If it were broken, the boot would keep the pieces together. Her next stop had originally been Baker, but he pushed her toward Smith. She rolled her eyes and went over to the PV2. Out of everyone he had the highest chance of being the worst hit, and she beat herself up for not remembering that sooner. He was the Gunner the chances of him breaking something from that rollover were greater than anyone else in that vehicle.

Or at least she thought it was a rollover. With her lack of hearing, she would have to ask later.

Miraculously, the nineteen-year-old looked like he wasn’t even scratched. “You lucky son of a bitch. You got some sort of shields we don’t know about!” She never would have thought how weird it was to not being able to hear yourself talk, but it was the first thought that crossed her mind. It gave her the heebie-jeebies. “Baker! Come on down!” Judging by how Smith winced, the SGT guessed that she was unintentionally louder than intended. A quick apology was -what she hoped- muttered just as the Corporal in question walked up.

The next thing she knew she was eating dirt and her M4 had pinned her firing hand between it and the ground.

“Excellent job, Akihiro.” A familiar voice greeted her as she slowly came to. “I knew you wouldn’t let me down. You have always been the most promising. You should have been the one with the demon sealed within, not that pathetic excuse for a kunoichi.”

“S-Shinobi.” She coughed as she brought her arm up to prop herself off the ground. 

“You don’t know when to give up.”

“Stubborn, enduring, resolute.” The kunoichi grinned, “Yeah, that’s her.” She mumbled to herself as she stood up and held what she was sure was a broken arm. A quick glance around told her everything she needed to know. She had woken up to a shite show. As Kushina had said it appeared to be that Akihiro had little to no control over himself. It was not something she would hold against him. This C-ranked mission had turned out to be anything and everything but. Plus, she could see the pain behind his usually stoic eyes. He didn’t want to do this and was obviously traumatized by what he had just done.

“Just stay down, idiot.” _Ahh, he can talk._ Before finishing the thought, a clone popped into existence next to her and she watched him as she had the clone snap her arm back in place with a sickening crack. It wasn’t perfect and wouldn’t be of as much use as her other arm, but at least her Uzumaki blood could jump-start the healing process. She wanted to avoid pulling on Kurama for as long as she could. To say that the two of them were not on the best terms at the moment would be the understatement of the century.

Cold, predatory violet eyes scanned the rest of the field. To her far left there was what she could only guess was the source of the burnt scent of flesh that tainted the air. Given the odd position and shape the remains were in on top of being burnt to a crisp, the redhead’s frown deepened. _This kids gonna be fucked up._ Any doubts that concerned her receded as she shut her eyes and took in a long deep breath. This wasn’t going to be pretty, and she had to decide how best to deal with those who remained. It had been some time since she had fought in this form.

“I suppose you would take on a puppet to fight when you are as large as a boulder.” The words left with a smirk as she scanned the traps that her other half had managed to throw down. _Hmm…_ Since she wasn’t conscious during the battle, these precious moments were all she had to gain as much information as she could. The downside of knocking someone out was that they could not share what they had gained. It was an oversight she would hopefully not have to remember regarding the teen. “Reading his mind as well I would assume.” She rolled out her shoulder, voice confident, and her posture lax. Akihiro wasn’t going to be a threat. All she had to do was eliminate fat man… which she looked forward to. Blondy, on the other hand, was an unknown… if what Kushina said was true he was able to take out Eiji a recently retired ANBU agent. “That isn’t going to do you any good from this point onward.”

“Cocky little shit.”

Akihiro’s skin crawled at the way those violet eyes gleamed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've just about murdered myself trying to piece this timeline back together. There are going to be some changes, but that's mostly because I am an idiot and didn't take birthdays into consideration. I've made it about 13 chapters into the old story trying to fix this particular problem... we should be good now. 
> 
> I think this one had about 3500... 
> 
> I haven't decided on a schedule for posting, so this will be sporadic. Unlike FF.net, the archive community isn't too big on reviews and the stats page isn't as in-depth as FF. Those are two ways I motivate myself to continue writing. Reviews and views. 
> 
> The good news is AO3 is still evolving! I remember when they didn't have exclude features for tagging. That was annoying. Additionally, kudos tend to give me a little nudge of encouragement so feel free to send those my way. (:


	7. And every demon wants his pound of flesh

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Eventually you have to rip off the Band-Aid." 
> 
> Kushina knew that they were going to have to get things into motion. She just hadn't anticipated just how much they had on their plate. She also hadn't planned on their scheme working out quite as quickly or smoothly as it had. Knowing Melody was counting on her Kushina continues to push herself in an attempt to alleviate some of the burden from her other half's shoulders.

[ June ]

{ A + 11 }

There weren’t many places Melody could call her own in her lifetime. 

Having lived a life that always placed other's needs before her own early in life careened her down a path that found herself constantly surrounded by people and resolving their problems. She had always known that this was her own defense mechanism she had mastered to avoid dealing with her own issues. Luckily, she had also unintentionally picked up a stabilizer. Something that could ground her when things spiraled or slip between her fingers. 

The time of day need not matter, nor wherever she found herself in life, for even on her most hellish of days all she had to do was look up and everything was as it should be. The clouds malingering by, the sun or moon sharing their light to the stars twinkling in both crystal clear and polluted skies. As she grew older, pushing herself into more hellish environments and situations with her workaholic-tendencies, the twenty-eight-year-old found herself with less time to cloud or stargaze.

“I like it here…” Their mindscape was a sight to behold. The beautiful meadow wasn’t one she had seen in her life, though the sky echoed some of her favorite from a life long past. “I mean aside o' grouchy pants. It’s not an unpleasant place.” Doe-brown eyes looked down at violet as a soft smile spread across darker lips, amusement tickling the soldier's face.

“Grouchy pants?” The elder made a mental note to bring that up with Kurama. Especially since the giant fox himself hadn’t bothered mentioning his hostess’s attempt at conversation.

“I’d say something else, but being hit in here hurts as much as it does out there.” The genin pouted, eyeing the elder suspiciously for a moment. “But is it really alright to do this?” Melody cocked her head to the side, encouraging the other to elaborate. “Staying away hidden in here. I can hear the whispers, ya know.” Melody’s smile fell but didn’t flip to a frown. That was something that she had noticed early on with this adventure. Internally, she chalked it up to something that had to deal with ‘Grouchy pants.’ The fox had taken a preference to talk around whatever questions she asked when he was feeling exceptionally difficult. A problem since she didn’t know if the specifications of being a Jinchūriki were ever fully explained.

“Would you like me to put up a stronger barrier?” After a moment of surprise, the teen thought over the offer. 

Red hair swayed left and right.

“No, it’s refreshing.” The soldier smirked once more and a flush of red spread across the teen's cheeks and nose. “Ya know… in a way.”

“I am definitely rubbing off on you.” The two sat in the open fields enjoying the tranquility. Flowers painted the landscape all around. Foxglove, lavender, various lilies, and one of Kushina’s newest favorites: The beautiful Bluebonnet. Across the horizon, one would see a baby forest peppering over the mountain and covering its base. 

[ nine months ago ]

“Are you positive you can handle this?” A nod was all the Hokage got in response from the two in the room. “It’s quite dangerous running around with no actual purpose in today’s environment.” The two knew that they had gained his undivided attention and brainpower the moment he lowered his pipe just before the questions slipped between his lips. If they played this just right, then they could get a jump on some of their more long-term plans. 

Even if they were all still a work in progress and years down the road.

“I won’t get hurt, nor will I run out of reserves.” Their resident Uzumaki began confidently. “I can keep her running around for patrols and surveillance. I won’t even notice she’s gone unless something happens to her.” Both watched as the Professor’s mind started whirling. Personally, she believed they may be moving too aggressively with the leader. He was no idiot, that they both knew. But as Kushina had pointed out; he was a man with war looming, a country still recovering, and now grandkids personally at stake. 

The habanero was no idiot and far more astute than anyone, herself included, gave her credit for.

“Her?”

“It gets too confusing thinking of her as me, ya know.” Said redhead frowned, crossing her arms. “Plus, as time progresses and my control grows. I can easily just send her out and maintain a presence here as I am or out to more extraneous missions.”

“Boss figures it would cause a less headache later on for the both of you.” Standing in her familiar ‘at ease’ position she finally spoke up, drawing attention to her brunette albeit an identical version of the teen. “I, frankly, have to agree with her about it. Though I may be a smidge biased.” While he hadn’t moved from the chair for a closer inspection, both of the two near-twins knew that he was looking over the brunette version with a keen eye.

“It would seem your mastery of this skill is getting stronger each day, Kushina-chan.” The redhead scrunched her nose at the honorific but nodded. “I shall allow it-“

“Yatta!”

“Under a few conditions.” The kunoichi paused her celebration mid-cheer. “First: I expect to receive daily reports even if nothing arose or there was nothing to note of the day's events.” Kushina looked over to her brunette counterpart, who shrugged and nodded in response at the simple request. “You,” Wizened brown eyes turned to said brunette. “Are not to engage any combatants unless innocents or are forces will suffer a loss of life unless expressed otherwise by myself.” Both nodded in agreement at the reasonable demand. Eagle-eyes shifted to the redhead. “If dispersed, you are to report immediately to me in person. No matter the time and inform me of any updates since my last update. As your control grows, these conditions may change as I see fit.” 

“Consider it done.” The soldier interrupted, startling Kushina and pausing any further stipulations. “May I recommend encoding and sealing the reports, Hokage-sama?” The slightest arch in his left brow was more than enough to encourage her. “With the destruction of the Boss’s clan… hmmm, in addition to the lack of competent seal’s masters or users across the lands. I feel that an intermediate seal may be enough, but why take the risk?” A momentary silence passed before she continued. “Boss hasn’t told anyone yet, but she has come up with several encryptions between her studies. Throwing one of those on the missives couldn’t hurt… though I doubt Boss will want anyone but herself able to decrypt it.” Doe-brown eyes twinkled over at violet. _Hook_

“Encoding?” The leader of the village was now leaning forward ever so slightly in his seat. Just enough for even the youngest in the room to notice.

“It’s just another safety precaution.” Kushina quickly replied, taking charge, and not sure how she felt about the half-lie naturally rolling off her tongue. “There wasn’t much detail amongst the scrolls and textbooks I own for me to use a preset one… but there is plenty of material for me to understand the value of such a system.” Internally she was chasing after the smirking vixen in her mind who had the gall to spring this on her out of the blue. “I have been creating a few of my own. A means to keep unwanted persons from obtaining any of the notes I carry on myself and sometimes leave unattended at home on a day-to-day that pertain to my seals.” _Line_

“How long would it take you to decrypt a message?” 

“It shouldn’t take her but an hour tops. I can even add a precursor line if there is anything urgent and keep those short and simple.” The brunette beat Kushina to the punch, but both internally enjoyed watching the Professor’s mind kick into gear with this new bit of information. Even if the teen was leering at her brunette counterpart when she answered, smirking back.

“Your clone has a mind of her own.” _And sinker_

“They didn’t so much as warn how annoying having a piece of yourself shown to the world can be.” Kushina sighed, knowing that she would have to pick up some pieces Melody was throwing down. They had agreed that something like this was reasonable for her to learn on her own. When Kushina asked if she had before, Melody shrugged. Their biggest concern was ensuring the Hokage that he could trust them, and this was a gift he could not turn the other cheek to. “But there isn’t a doubt in my mind that she can complete the mission without a hitch. And with time, this will be something that will aid the village.”

“A name would be rather nice than being referred to in the third person, ya know.” Melody was picking her ear with her pinky finger when she brought attention back to her. 

“If possible and to cause the least amount of suspicion, we’ll continue to use your other alias when referring to your clone.” The brunette rolled her eyes as Kushina nodded. “Now with that settled there is one final stipulation,” the leader turned his attention over to the brunette. “Are you able to maintain the form of the appearance you last came in here as?” Doe-brown eyes smiled while violet widened in shock. He had been onto them for longer than they gave him credit for, likely since they had substituted checking in before either had decent enough control. A cloud of smoke concealed the brunette Kushina before disappearing and revealing the form Kushina had grown used to seeing in their mind, but not in person unless she was looking at their henge in a reflection. The five foot ten caramel-skinned, curly-haired vixen was kneeling before the elder. Her hair up in a tight bun as she smiled with both her lips and eyes at their leader. “You are to head out in one hour to start your patrols around the land of fire. Remember, Chūnin level reserves.” Unable to help herself, Kushina smiled as the brunette bowed. “Dismissed.”

“Hai.”

“When are you coming back?” Looking up at the soldier as she lazily brushed through her red fiery locks always made the teen feel like all was well in the world. Like she wasn’t slowly closing in on the day that Melody had tried to cover and lock away from her mind. When it was just the two of them like this, even as they remained miles apart physically, the Uzumaki didn’t feel as alone as she did before they joined up. The pause in her strokes told Kushina that even if she wouldn’t admit it Melody felt the same in her own way. “I know. I know. This will help up in the long run…”

“Does someone miss me?” While everything in her heart told her to bellow out ‘yeeesss!’ Kushina knew that it would either have the twenty-some-odd recoil inward or have her teased relentlessly. They had come a long way these past couple of years, but the soldier still tried to keep her at arms' length. Especially when she hyper-focused on their future and the catastrophe she was trying to prevent.

“No. Where are you?” So instead the teen deflected. They now were sometimes spending seasons at a time apart. Especially now that Melody had a firm grasp on how to compartmentalize her memories before returning. After an incident that left them unconscious for a week in a half and Kushina’s first scolding by the big fox himself, both sat down and finagled a system to avoid reliving that experience.

“Hmmm. Here and there.” Kushina rolled her eyes as the soldier replied, waving her wrist flippantly. She was somewhere near water or had been in some recently. Melody always smelled more like lilies than the oceanic smell many associated with her. Though the two scents, at least according to Tsume when they all met up once, blended naturally together.

“You’re no fun, ya know.” She pouted and hoped that her alter ego wasn’t anywhere near the Hidden Mist. Rumors were all they had come in at the moment, but they were all the same. That part of the map was hit hard during the last war, and everyone was waiting to see how they would recover… if they could.

“If I told you, you’d try to find me.”

“Not the point. Nor making me feel better.” She grumbled as they fell back into another relaxing silence, watching both the flowers and distant trees dance with the light breezes. The soldier was calm, and that was enough to quell any concerns Kushina had for the time being.

“How’s the gang doing?” 

“You’re missing the Chūnin Exams, ya know.” She needn’t open her eyes to know she had the brunette's undivided attention. Her body stiffened for a moment too long and a stronger breeze shook petals of various blooms into the air and with them, their varied smells mixed.

“You’re holding them even while we are at war?” That had the habanero open an eye with an arched brow. Unsure if she heard the grumble correctly, but spotting the genuine surprise concerned the kunoichi. “I suppose that’s what Shishou was complaining about.”

“Apparently you are more out of the loop than I thought. We haven’t been at war for about a year now, Mels. What are you doing to not know something like that?” Her one eye watched as the soldier merely continued to look out at the peaceful scenery.

“I should be back with you in about a month or so, according to the boss.” It took all of her willpower to not snake her arms around her second half, but she didn’t hold back the toothy smile. “How’s your seals mastering going? Jiraiya helping at all?” 

“Minato’s sensei?” His name alone had her scrunching both of her eyes and her nose in disgust. “I wouldn’t let him near me with a ten-foot pole.” The soldier chuckled and took the hand she was using to run through fiery red locks to instead rub the back of her own neck.

“Please tell me you have more control over that than in here.”

“Over what?”

“My phrases.” The kunoichi stopped and tried to think about any times she slipped up, but the fact was that after the first few times everyone had chalked it up to it being another quirk of her own. Looking up at the doe-brown eyes staring down at her, the teen shrugged sheepishly. “And what about our plus one?”

“I’ve been meaning to ask about that, actually.” The kunoichi sat up and looked back at the calm forest. “Did you do something about a year or so ago? He’s been quiet as of late.” She hadn’t wanted to jinx her luck, so the Uzumaki hadn’t so much as looked over there when she finally noticed how calm things had been in her mind since Mels had last left. She didn't want to admit how weird it was to not have him scoff at some seals she was working on, or grumble when she found herself in the hospital more than once a week. Then there were the days she felt rested with only a couple of hours' rest or a nap after staying up perpetually late for days on end.

Violet eyes watched as brown looked up in search of an answer.

[ Nine Months Ago ]

“Hey! Kurama!” Melody hollered as she closed the distance between herself and their severely perturbed mind-guest. There was no way in hell she would get anything viable done without his cooperation. At least, not in a timely manner. And while she would kill to say that, she had done everything all on her own. She knew better than to think she could play the fox himself. 

**“Come back to finally free me of this cage. I know what you have done. Unlike the idiot, I see everything. You can’t hide anything from me.”**

“Don’t make me turn my back on you, Kurama. As I am sure you are aware, there is no way in the Hokage’s name that I am letting you out.”

 **“I will break your bones into dust and stomp over everything you care for!”**

“...yet.” That seemed to have caught the Beast's attention, “As we are both are aware, there is a way for Kushina to loosen the restraints. My being here has already changed quite a bit. Yourself included.”

**“And you believe I would bargain with a hairless ape such as yourself.”**

“Who holds the key to those chains?” She chirped jovially, though the tailed-beast looked anything but amused by her antics. “Technically Kushina, but I am a close second. Get this. You don’t like me. I don’t like you, as you are… Currently. But I know who you do and or will hate more so in the not-so-distant-future.” Their mindscape quickly changed from the peaceful field to a familiar sight that Melody knew she couldn’t completely prevent but perhaps change some outcomes of.

 **“Impossible.”** _Cocky little shite._

“We both know better.” Melody sighed as they watched the start of the beginning of the world she knew and grew up with. “And frankly we are the best shot you have at stopping any of that from happening.” Her gaze darkened, “I already felt the change in your mood when you witnessed those eyes Kurama. We both know how dangerous that kind of power is and whether or not you like it, Kushina and I know more about you than possibly anyone aside of our... her son ever will.”

 **“And you want to strike a deal with The Big Bad Fox.”** She didn’t want to tell you how weird it was for _him_ of all beings to use phrases from her memories. It was just a childish nickname they came up with to refer to the ‘one-who-must-not-be-named’ Voldemort-equivalent of those early years… but the way it slipped past his lips made it all real.

“As I said. You are already much different from the fox we were watching. You’re much more like the older you. We can skip all this nonsense, skip the anger, the killer threats, move past that, and work towards something indefinitely better. Frankly, Kurama, I doubt you will find a long-term investment plan better than this.”

“I may have spoken with him,” Melody replied carefully after a moment of silence. “While I am cautious about making changes.” Kushina watched as the soldier paused, searching for her words. “I believe we have reached a compromise of sorts. You needn’t bother yourself with it.”

“Needn’t I?” The swat upside her head was both warranted from Melody and worth it to the teen. “Oi! I didn’t deserve that, ya know!”

“Speaking of Minato, how is he?” Flailing the redhead flushed and shifted her attention away from Melody, who had done the same, to hide her blush.

“He’s fine.”

“That’s good.” The awkward silence that passed between them in this quiet reprieve was not uncommon following the topic. Turning when a rush of icy wind swept through their mindscape Kushina’s lips fell into a frown as she ignored her prickling flesh. “I should get going…” Melody stood up when she didn’t move to pop her back like she usually did Kushina’s frown grew taut. “Use those lungs of yours if you need me.”

“Is that a warning of sorts?” The fourteen-year-old asked standing, eyes never leaving the soldier whose gaze set into the horizon.

“We’re both figuring this out as we go.” Her words were solid, but roundabout and distant. Kushina knew that most of Melody’s mind was rejoining their other half. Wherever she may be. Doe-brown eyes locked onto violet. “Stay safe.” The brunette was there, and then she was not.

Leaving Kushina with just the familiar scent of Lilies she missed in their extended separation.

\---

[ August ]  
{ A +13}

Grimacing as she looked at the duty roster for the day.  
Doubt clouded her mind as she wondered whether she was going to pull this one off. 

“Today is not going to be an agreeable day, ya know.” She muttered to herself as she made her way to the front gate. Knowing full well how boring Guard detail could be, the kunoichi had brought a variety of scrolls, ink, and brushes to catch up on her studies. She didn’t know what Melody was up to, but she was adamant about conveying her inability to immerse herself into seals as much as she wanted.

So Kushina took that as a call for her to further their knowledge for both of them.

“Kushina!” The Chūnin paused and looked back at the familiar mop of blond hair that was making its way through the crowded streets. Her mind ran through various routes she could take and excuses she could offer. _So long as there is a kernel of truth…_ With a cheeky smile, she offered a slight wave in acknowledgment before continuing to traverse the crowds to make her way toward the front gates. “Excuse me, pardon me. Kushina hold on a minute!”

She had somewhere to be. There was no lie in that.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d never guess he would become a run-on-sight bookmark in the Bingo Book.” She mumbled to herself as she lengthened her stride in one last vain attempt. Truthfully, she wasn't sure if she could have lost him even if she had tried earnestly. Had this been a solo mission, she would have had a better shot. As it stood, leaving the village without approval was asking to be marked nuke- nin.

With a quick glance back, the teen frowned that was just her luck. _Or perhaps a bit of Melody’s._ She groaned internally, knowing full well the idiotic genius was on a warpath for answers. He was a motivated man naturally, but there were these few instances where when he got like this and whatever remnants of logic and common sense were thrown to the wind. “Took you long enough, slowpoke.”

“Did you not hear me call you?” They both knew she had.

“I’ve got to be at the main gate in a couple of minutes.” Violet eyes flickered over to his narrowed cerulean. Setting her gaze straight ahead, she made up her mind. “How was your last mission?”

“Fine. But that’s not what I want to talk about.” This time violet eyes locked with cerulean. _Yup, I knew it._ She did not like what she saw.

“What is it?”

“You still haven’t talked about **it**.” There was no attempt to keep the groan from escaping. Quickening her pace once more, her only chance of relief was but meters away. “Kushina, everyone is worried.”

“I don’t see what the problem is, Minato.” She spat. “What do you want me to say? I should have died? Manabu should be here with us? Akihiro is a murderer? Or perhaps I shouldn’t have defended myself and let them take me.” She was still walking, but she was sure her hair was currently doing that thing that everyone had pointed out “Perhaps they should lock me up. Seal me away. Or I should be in the middle of being indoctrinated. Years, months, or weeks away from becoming another tool for Iwa and or Kumo?” She was dealing in her own way. “Should I leave the village and never look back? Or should I just take my own life and take the damn thing with me-“ That got a response out of not only the blond but her teammate who was watching with wide eyes as they walked up.

“Kushina! What?! No.” The original flame that burned behind his eyes when she glanced earlier was now a raging fire. “Don’t. You. Ever. Say. That.” Her brows knit further down. She was fine. She was okay. There were people out there who were dealt a far worse hand and come out a raging phoenix.

“I am about five seconds from swinging Minato. Make it quick. And so help the Hokage if you tell me you are here for me again.” _De-escalation is nine-times out of ten the tougher, but correct path…_ Exhaling the Chūnin continued, “Look. I know, and maybe one day I will talk about it. I am sure you already asked Inoichi about it and are aware that I did a damn good job at locking it up and throwing away the key.” She shook her wrist free of his grasp she didn’t realize he had grabbed. “It’s not affecting my career. It’s not affecting me. Therefore, it is not a problem.”

“It’s still not normal to bury everything,” Akihiro replied, having spun around so fast her hair was still in full swing when she pointed an accusing finger at him and glared.

“Don’t you dare try tag-teaming this! I’ll kick your ass to Suna and back at our next training session!” Her teammate smirked and rolled his eyes before sitting back down behind their post. “Now, I have a mission to accomplish and frankly I believe you should be resting after your last mission, Minato.” The Uzumaki turned her attention back to the blond, fist clenched. “If I so much as sense your chakra anywhere but in bed asleep, you’ll have a one-way trip to the infirmary for an indefinite amount of time.”

Paling under her gaze, or perhaps she may have let more of her killing intent out than intended. Whichever it was, Minato was out of their hair in a snap and she had one less problem to deal with.

“He only means well.”

“I know,” She muttered, rubbing the bridge of her nose, a habit she had picked up from her other half. “Regardless, he needs to take care of himself before trying to take care of others, ya know?” She looked over at the plum-haired Chūnin. “You saw him. He was a dead man walking. What is with you guys, anyway?” Akihiro merely arched a brow, smirking. “Ugh! That man is going to be the death of me.”

“Not if he can help it.”

“You don’t even know the half of it.” She grumbled, leaning back against the stall.

“Would you two just kiss and go out already?”

That earned the shinobi a chakra-infused punch to the chest.

[ same day ]

"Maa~ You're just going to have me travel back to the leaf on my own." The two women had been the only ones in the hot springs for the last ten minutes. Their fellow occupants had left after bidding them a farewell. "Some people would call that irresponsible, you know?" The movement was sudden as the water shifted around her body. Considering it a pass in training, she watched as her offender came up for air. Years ago, she would have worried over what sounded like someone hacking up a lung. But she was no longer that woman, and instead, she threw her head back, releasing a burst of manic laughter. She felt relieved with the unexpected emotion and barely heard the hacked out 'ruude' from her companion.

"Still have a mouth on you, don't you?" She shook her head, narrowing her amber eyes while she slouched back against the rock behind her. The brunette beat her chest, physically trying to clear her airway. It took a moment, but finally the hacking seized and she too was leaning back against the spring. She'd never admit it, but she missed this. Missed the conflict, missed the retorts. Not enough to do anything to change her path in life, but this was a pleasant change.

A needed change to what had become her daily routine.

"What can I say?" Amber eyes narrowed sharply, the tone in her voice. The way her right brow arched over the other and a smirk played on the brunette's lips. "I take after my Sensei." A second splash quickly followed as the water adjusted to the disturbance. Seconds of blissful silence passed before the drenched brunette's hair slowly broke water. Coming to a full stop only when her nostrils were free. _Pity, I could use another laugh._ A pair of narrowed brown eyes watched her, then slowly she pulled the rest of her head out of the water before relaxing. Taught toned shoulders released their tension. The muscles around her neck fell flat. She wasn't a beautiful girl, but neither was she plain. It was something she could use to her advantage if she continued down this dark path. "Right, right, you are only doing this because Hokage-sama asked you to."

"You're lucky the twerp took a liking to you." Just months prior, she would have thrown another rock at the dismissive hand gesture. With time she had come to learn that there were some things you couldn't beat out of someone. This, unfortunately, happened to be one of those for the teen. Shaking her head as a smile snuck on her features, thinking back to the brash, annoying teen that had forcefully made herself about of her routine.

"I am in no way trying to replace you." _What in the name of the Sage?_ Lazily glancing over to the brunette. A distant, far-away look was what greeted her. It was a look she had caught since their introduction. "Frankly, I am just running out of time. And in order to keep those, I love alive sacrifices must be made. Sacrifices I don't intend on anyone else other than myself take."

There wasn't a doubt in her mind about that, and the unexpected statement spawned a drop of concern for the home she had run as far away as she could from. _For the Hokage to send someone to me… no. That's their problem. They can take care of themselves._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are not back at full swing yet. I am torn between posting up the remainder of what had already been written before the turn of the year. But I know better. 
> 
> There will be a layout change starting next chapter. I hope it helps you guys as much as it has I. Eventually, when I find that particular notebook, those changes will be filled in these first couple chapters as well. 
> 
> Don't worry nothing plot wise, you'll see.


	8. Making eyes at this husk around my heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "but hope seduces like a silver tongue, double-edged like a dagger that cuts both ways." -Charlie Fletcher 
> 
> It's been a little over a year since they had met and so much has changed. Kushina isn't quite sure if things had changed for Melody. Concerned that her other half is locking away to be used as a tool Kushina learns from the most unexpected source that perhaps her elder half is making a life for herself outside of the Hokage's office.

Book One:

Chapter Seven

[August]

{ A + 13 }

“This is...” There weren’t many things that would keep the Uzumaki from her meals. Anyone who knew any better got used to her mannerisms and knew that if they were not out on a mission, and especially if she were back home at her favorite restaurant, you were on her time. Anyone who would have witnessed this occasion from start to finish would likely have done a double-take. The kunoichi’s attention wasn’t on her meal, but instead, eagerly focused on the woman next to her with a smile plastered across her face. “Intense? No... Surreal?” Flabbergasted the red-head knit her brows together, scrunched her nose, and frowned.

“Wait. Why?” The brunette woman turned to face her, and Kushina couldn’t help but feel like a child under her gaze. It was easy to forget just how different they were, but that was beside the point. “There is no way that you have had better.” Intense and surreal were not the words Kushina had ever heard when describing what was obviously pure blissful heaven in your mouth. And frankly, Kushina didn’t care how much older Melody was and what outlandish (to her) experiences she had lived. There was no way that anything in her weird world that wore those questionable uniforms for ‘camouflage’, could beat Teuchi’s Ramen.

“Huh?” The elder confusion etched on the elder’s features for all of a moment before Melody was laughing. “Oh, ha, no. This is by far the best Ramen my taste buds have ever had the pleasure of experiencing.” Even after being together for a little over a year, Kushina was still getting used to the weird (to her) way Melody spoke. Narrowing her eyes, the fifteen-year-old searched for any sign that the brunette was pulling her leg. Seeing this, Melody quickly clarified. “I meant walking around Konoha was surreal. To me, this all feels like a dream.” Curious, but too hungry to ignore her stomach now. The Chūnin returned to her own bowl but glanced over it as the brunette continued speaking. “It’s one thing to imagine all of this, you know? I think everyone wonders and imagines what it would be like to walk down Konoha’s streets. I know I did. Yet here I am, actually passing by the people and seeing that they are no different from the people back...” Even Teuchi seemed to have been caught off guard by her sudden stop, pausing himself from wiping down the surrounding counter. “Home. A part of me is afraid I am going to wake up at any moment.”

Thirteen months. Melody had arrived in her life thirteen months ago, and if there was one thing Kushina wished to emulate herself, it was the woman’s ability to adapt, twist the truth without lying outright. To alter stories enough to where the meaning wasn’t lost, even if the details and names had been. It had been a point of slight contention between them. She hated it at first but having since witnessing the impact of controlling information, the narrative, and how that affected the outcome of what seemed to be like pointless endeavors. Had completed avoided any unnecessary conflict.

If there was a single thing Kushina could take from Melody, that was it.

“Oh.” She mumbled mid-bite, before slurping what ramen she had in her mouth at the end of the twenty-eight-year-old’s explanation. “You should have elaborated sooner, ya know.” She said pointing her chopsticks at Melody. “If you were anyone else, I would have dragged you to the hospital.” She elaborated, returning to her meal and actively trying to ignore her pair of eyes staring knowingly at her. A couple of moments passed before the teen finished her third bowl, unable to deal with the attention. “It was that or turn you into T&I.” She added and when the doe-brown eyed woman still didn’t comment Kushina crossed her arms and wrinkled her nose. “What? You’re weird.”

“Ouch. Shot through the heart.” Melody grasped the fabric over her heart as if it had been a physical wound. Seconds later she laughed at the teens ‘my point, exactly’ expression. “What did you expect, though? It’s not like I am from around here.” The woman defended, waving a hand lazily around. “This is all new to me.”

“Not from around here, you say?” Teuchi inquired, joining the conversation. Kushina couldn’t help but be grateful for the distraction, though she internally wondered why he couldn’t have done so while she was eating. “Where are you from?” The question was innocent enough, but Kushina still tensed. Handing the reins for the brunette to continue the conversation as she glanced from behind her fourth bowl.

Reminding her of the second thing she admired and wanted to emulate from the woman. Melody always appeared natural and relaxed in just about any situation. It was something Kushina had noticed other veteran shinobi had picked up themselves. And when she asked, Melody had claimed it had taken years to get into the habit. And it was a double-edged sword, depending on whose presence you were in. Kushina didn’t give a damn. The woman had bluffed and enticed the Third enough for them to ‘continue their training’ with their ‘unique clone’ situation. That was an invaluable skill.

“There was this small fishing town on the outskirts of the Land of Fire.” Initially, Kushina was skeptical of the woman. She was an unknown and had shown up out of nowhere... in her head in the middle of her kidnapping. For all she knew, Melody could have been a creation Kyūbi to trick her. If she were to be completely honest, somewhere deep down Kushina knew that could still be the case. What eased her away from those conclusions were the memories she had witnessed. She wouldn’t put it past the Kyūbi, but it seemed far too complicated. Too real for Kushina to hope for anything but that Melody was who she projected to be.

“Was?” Melody nodded at the inquiry and rested her chin in the palm of her left hand.

“It was a beautiful town, and I loved it very much. The waters were crystal blue and darkened when a storm was on the horizon. The people were lovely folk and very welcoming.” Slowly Kushina set down her bowl, enthralled by the pure admiration in Melody’s voice as she spoke about this town. “There was an inn on the beach line it had the most brilliant view. Especially during sunrise and set. I remember sneaking in with my brothers to watch it on the roof.” She laughed. “It was during one of these breaking and enterings when Shishou found us and trained me.”

“What made you leave?” Without thinking, the question parted Kushina’s lips. She was getting better at reading the brunette, but she was far from an expert. Said brunette lifted her head from her palms and frowned.

“It was a tough decision, but I couldn’t turn down the opportunity of being trained by an actual shinobi. Our town wasn’t well guarded. With the war, Uzushiogakure fall, and the land of waves being too close for comfort. It was only a matter of time before we were to be targeted.” The woman sighed and Kushina frowned looking down at her bowl unsure of what to make about what was being told. She knew there was some truth in the tale. Anyone could see it with the sincerity of her voice, her faraway longing gaze, and the unimportant details she peppered in. “I lost track of time. I learned a lot from Shishou and forgot about that small, beautiful town during our travels. A couple of years ago, Shishou brought me here... or rather sent me here. And I haven’t gotten out much until recently.”

“Now that I think about it, you do look familiar.” Teuchi interrupted as he picked up their empty bowls, his eyes brightening as he placed her face. “You’re Sakumo’s new _friend_ , aren’t you?”

“Huh?!” Kushina had always just assumed that when Melody was out and about, it was for another mission or something for the Hokage. _What’s this about being friends with Sakumo?! AND WHY HAVEN’T I HEARD OF IT!_ _Melody hadn’t so much as mentioned anything about making friends, nevertheless_ **_friends_ ** _._

“Oro?” Doe-brow eyes widened and her head titled slightly to the left. The two of them shared a glance before turning back to face Teuchi, who merely smiled and continued to dry off one of their bowls. “T-That’s hardly fair.” Melody whined, literally whined, as she crossed her arms and pouted. The sight was foreign even to Kushina, who unquestionably spent the most amount of time with the brunette. “You can’t just keep me in suspense like this.”

“Hold the fuck up.” While she could feel both adults’ attention on her Kushina focused on comprehending this new piece of information that she had only just become privy to. “Sakumo. Like Sakumo-Sakumo. Sakumo Hatake, Sakumo?” Looking incredulously at the brunette, the dots fell into place. “AS IN KONOHA’S WHITE FANG?!” Melody bounced a look at Teuchi, then nodded. “You’re THE Friend?!”

Kushina was not one for gossip, but even she had heard about this.

“Woah. Woah. Woah. Hold your horses.” This time she looked between the two of them as she spoke. “Why did you say ‘friend’ like that? It’s just friend.” The teen giggled at the flustered woman, thoroughly enjoying the rare expression on her face. “None of this friend stuff.” A quick glance at Teuchi and Kushina would bet he was not expecting that response and if his grin said anything it was that he was enjoying this maybe a bit too much.

“Sakumo-sama hardly has friend-friends, hime.” The owner sagely replied. _Hime?_ “You have unintentionally upset the balance within the female population. You see, there is this exotic foreigner that has been spotted with our one and only White Fang’s undivided attention.” The growl that escaped the elders’ lips was inhuman but familiar to Kushina. “It would seem that his appearances at the bar have dropped along with the number of females he has been seen leaving them with.”

“Sometimes we hit up bars.” She explained, though clearly still flustered. “What he does on his off time is his own damn business.” She lamely followed, crossing her arms and nodding to herself. “I hardly can see how us hanging out like normal people would cause such a scandal.”

“Ten months ago.” Kushina had a good idea of where the owner was going with this, but if Melody’s arched brow meant anything, it was that she did not.

“Hmmm?”

“I will bet that you and our beloved White Fang met around ten months ago.” It was minute, but Kushina caught the woman biting her lip and gasped. _She is so her._ Part of her chirped, ecstatic at this revelation. Elated that Melody seemed to have been placing some roots down in the village. Yet another tad bit louder part of her was upset. Wondering how or why she would hide something like this from her. “You see, apparently ten months ago is when he started to change and no one thought anything of it at the time.”

“Until we started hanging out publicly later.” The brunette rubbed the bridge of her nose. “And people took it upon themselves to talk and perform their own investigations. Did anybody stop to think that maybe, just maybe, he was lonely? And I don’t mean specifically in _**that**_ sense. He is a single parent and a shinobi who had one hell of a reputation.” Kushina frowned, casting a quick glance at Teuchi to see if he caught the slip. It was the only way she caught any specifications about what was to come or learned anything new about the soldiers’ personal life and affairs. “I offered to watch his kid, and we became friends. We laugh. We joke. And we complain like friends do. That doesn’t mean that I am snogging the guy.”

“Snogging?” That was definitely a term she had never heard.

“You know...” Melody flippantly rolled her wrist. “Shagging.” Seeing that she had apparently also lost Teuchi, Melody sighed. “Banging... Screwing.” A quick glance at Teuchi and it was apparent that he knew exactly what she was referring to. “Mating, sleeping together?” The woman was shooting through synonyms before she could explain that she got the point. “Holy shite ‘shina!” Turning to acknowledge her name and hopefully stop what was going to be an embarrassment for them both, she found she was too late. “Sex. Kushina. Sex. We are not having sex.”

She wasn’t completely incompetent.

She was fifteen, and this was very much not something she talked about with anyone. Kami, the only person she would even think about having these discussions with was the one currently yelling out she was not having sex with Sakumo in the middle of Ichiraku’s for the world to hear. Along with a good handful of other roundabout terminology. Even if Kushina wanted to talk to Melody about these things, there was still that extremely awkward bit that she was kinda in love with the same, albeit older version of the guy she was in love with. It hadn’t been too awkward to think about when they were together, but now that they were spending a substantial amount of time apart and Melody chose to appear her actual age...

The best option was avoiding the topic itself until she personally reasoned all of this out. Which meant never. And if she were lucky and Melody was hanging out with more people her age. Well, that still made things a bit awkward since she could only do so because she was a ‘clone’ of the Chūnin.

So she just would not bother with that can of worms until she had to. And to sway her mind from those thoughts, the Chūnin asked the main question on her mind.

“How did you two meet?”

\----

[December]

{ A + 5 }

“So help me, Obito, if you drop that cake I am going to be very upset with you and you won’t live to become a ninja.” Melody growled out the barely veiled threat as the Uchiha detoured into the playground. “You’re gonna be the death of me.” She muttered to herself, opting to drop her bags while doing so to give him some time to be a kid.

She knew he meant well, but he was a growing child and his grandmother needed a break every now and then. It was an easy enough solution, after running into them a couple of times in town, speaking with the wonderful old lady and witnessing her predicament. Melody made sure that if she ever happened to be in the area, she would offer to take the squirt and allow the elder some reprieve. A sigh slipped passed her lips as the twenty-eight-year-old watched the kid play on the playground while managing to balance the cake.

“This is possibly the last place I would expect to run into you.” Smirking before the familiar baritone voice finished she turned to face him.

“I could say the same. It wasn’t exactly planned. If that’s what you were thinking. At least not on my end, albeit these things seem to happen more when he is around.” She motioned with a nod over to the self-entertaining Uchiha who was currently trying to balance the cake on his head while climbing up the slide... without using his hands. Positively sure that those chakra control lessons are not taught at the academy based on what little she knew, the brunette turned her back to the kid, not wanting to witness the pastry’s inevitable destruction. She was greeted with a curiously frowning Hatake, and it took her all of a minute to realize where the cogs in his head were heading. Taking it upon herself to clarify the situation and having a viable excused to touch him, the kunoichi brought him out of his thoughts with a gentle hand on his right shoulder. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Taichou.”

“Who is that Obasan?” Whether he just realized that her attention was no longer on him or that they were no longer alone didn’t bother the woman. What had caused her to facepalm and run her hand down her face was that he seemingly didn’t know who she was talking to. She didn’t know if they went over prominent shinobi in the Academy. Everyone seemed to know who the Sannin were, and he played a crucial role in the second shinobi war. There was also the chance that physical descriptions were not given, but being that Obito was an Uchiha. She liked to think they knew about other clans, big or small, within the village. Having not been part of a (living) clan or gone through the academy herself, for all she knew perhaps his question was warranted and just another thing she would think about changing. _Though I am curious how in-depth with clans, the academy goes into. And what happens when they lose prominence or destroyed. Ugh! The only three people I can ask about this are or will be personally affected by such a circumstance. Hokage it is_.

“Obasan?” Ignoring Sakumo’s blatant grin, she gave the Hatake a questioning glance as she spoke, attempting to find the correct way to explain their friendship?

“A friend. Obito-kun.” Finding no complaint with her answer, the caramel-skinned woman turned her sights from her silver-haired Taichou to the seven-year-old. “Now give me that and go play.” With the cake quickly, but safely, returned to her grasp, the woman walked up to a nearby bench and set down. Sakumo joining shortly thereafter and both watched in silence as the Uchiha entertained himself once more. “I watch the squirt occasionally.” She admitted with a soft smile. “He lives with his gran and she can definitely use the breaks.” She added pointing to the kid as he fell face-first onto the slide, before sliding down, getting up, and trying again.

“Never thought of having kids of your own?” Caught entirely off guard by the sudden inquiry, Melody didn’t answer. Instead wondering whether roundaboutness was a genetic characteristic of Hatake’s. Besides the mission they had a couple months back, she had only seen him in passing. As far as she was concerned their friendship was purely one-sided, on her side, as they had shared nothing too personal to one another.

“It has crossed my mind a couple of times.” She settled for an answer with a sigh as she stood and began gathering the bags. _As much as I would love to see where this conversation goes... I’d rather not. I am far too invested in it._ “Come now, Obito-kun! We don’t want to worry Baa-baa!” Her elusive Anbu partner snagged a couple of bags and even the cake as she stood confused. “You don’t have to worry yourself with that Taichou.”

“We wouldn’t want to ruin this before it reached the birthday girl, now would we?”

 _Oooh, but it has already._ Unable to help herself, she closed her eyes and smiled.

\-----

[August]

{ A + 13 }

“Have you ever tried to talk him out of doing something?” She adored the man, she really did. “I am almost willing to bet that it’s worse than trying to get a hyper-active Uchiha to leave the playground.” The three shared a comfortable silence until another patron entered the stall and took Teuchi away. Quite the opportunist. When she wishes, Melody placed money down for their combined meal and waved to her other half. “I’ve got a couple of things I need to take care of ‘shina-darling. It was a pleasure, and I look forward to sharing more meals with you.” With that, she was gone in a flurry of leaves reappearing at her usual training grounds.

Though training was the furthest thing from her mind. The soldier jumped up onto a branch before laying on her stomach with a grunt. As amusing as the conversation from earlier was, it reminded the twenty-eight-year-old just how long it had been since she had seen her former Anbu partner slash captain slash friend (just friend), nevertheless worked with him. He had left the Anbu about half a year prior. Though she hadn’t noticed in the chaos that was the Land of Fire’s boarders and the ever-looming war. Missions had become more frequent and she was sure that after months of convincing he finally accepted that spending time with his son was important.

 _In fact, more important than the deteriorating borders._ She thought with a smile.

Their friendship, because that’s all that it was, had started off shaky at first. But after their actual first encounter, their shared mission, and her intentional ‘accidental’ encounters with him (not including the playground, that was genuinely unexpected) they became the closest of friends.

_And apparently more so to people in passing._

It was difficult to open up to someone when all you could tell them were half-truths, lies, or derailing... but she had to make it work. She needed someone to talk to, someone who knew her for her actual age.

Not as some clone to be exploited for the war as the Hokage knew her.

Not as her teenage persona, Emiko as Shishou knew her.

Melody thought they would be enough. That between them and Kushina (who did know her. But Melody kept at some arm’s length because of her knowledge of the future) she could live a happy life here in the village. She’d continue to go on solo missions, do whatever Hiruzen needed her to do so that lives weren’t lost, and she’d pad about in her mind about how to deal with Naruto’s birth. So when the Hokage asked who she wanted as a partner for a rather gruesome and difficult mission, she had replied “The White Fang” without so much as a pause.

Why?

Well, if she were completely honest, it came down to ‘why the hell not?’ She had picked up a bingo book the moment she could. Iwa was good about updating them, and as expected she only knew a handful of people from this time. With the Sannin out, The Yellow Flash not flashing yet, there was only one proper choice.

Unable and unwilling to share their actual first meeting, she had opted for a more innocent and wholesome story. It hadn’t been her first meeting with him out of uniform, nor the second or third. But it was one she kept close to her heart. Not being one to stay in the village long, or listen to the people talking around her, Melody groaned as her mind rolled around that new bit of friend information she had learned today. She didn’t partake in gossip unless it pertained to a mission. She didn’t listen to chit-chat unless it pertained to a mission. Above all, she disliked being part of it more than anything else. The only exception she’d give was if it was for a mission.

Kushina wasn’t the only one who had been avoiding thinking of certain things. The thought of relationships like that had been out of her mind even before she had arrived. Her thoughts typically focused on how she could make things better. What options she had at her disposal to deal with known issues? What could she do to prepare others for what was to come? How can she better herself to help those around her? And how she could efficiently cram as much Fūinjutsu into her mind.

She’d long since believed that her life was practically behind her. Being twice Kushina’s age wasn’t as common as it was in the images that flickered on a television a decade ago. Wars were prominent, people died. Look at Kakashi. A sole survivor whose network of special people had been wiped out. He was the norm. Her career in Anbu (right before a Shinobi War) and her technically about to be thirty made it easier to think like that in this world. It was easier to not think about things others wanted. She felt like she understood Kakashi better now than ever.

Sue her for trying to prepare as much as she could.

If her death meant keeping a certain blond and redhead alive, it was a price she will pay.

She lived her life as crappy as it was.

 _If I were to be completely honest with myself. I fear the moment I stop and think about everything. What has happened? What’s going to happen. How I’ve been thrown into Atlas’ position. I’d go into shock or something._ She thought sourly as she swung her arm out in front of her. _Even if I were to wake up and find this was all some fever-induced dream or something. No. That would be worse. I couldn’t survive that. Even if all I’ve been doing since arriving here has been reacting to contact._ She knew that this mindset would bite her in the ass. She had seen it in a couple of people back before. She had already been losing half her mind when she dragged Sakumo into her life. But it felt good. She didn’t realize just how freeing it was to be yourself. To not have to analyze everything you or someone else was saying. To watch their body language and micro-expressions for threats.

To be herself.

That he trusted her even with all her quirks and elusiveness made it all the better.

\-----

[December]

{ A + 5 }

“Pregnancy terrifies me.” Wolf looked over at the half-masked Vixen with an arched brow under his mask. They had just killed two of their eight targets and while the battle hadn’t been pretty, it wasn’t anything they couldn’t handle. He was grateful for her medical knowledge as she patched him up before they set up camp. As the sun was setting with neither of them being particularly good at advanced level genjutsu the fire was put out.

The topic had come out of nowhere, but he wouldn’t say he wasn’t curious.

His personal experiences with pregnancy were nothing but full of joy and anxiety. Fond memories he held dear of a time that, in a sense, was simpler than how things were now. “It is not uncommon for us to die during birth, if not shortly after. Women in my family, that is.” She continued staring up at the sky. “Then I became a kunoichi. All the more reason not to.”

“You could die on a mission. On this mission, even.” He offered after a moment, liking to think he knew her better now. While their initial meeting had been unexpected, they had teamed up more times than not over the last four-almost five months. They hadn’t shared too many personal subjects, but he knew that death was not the answer. Though it was something he would have taken at face value without a second thought almost half a year ago. “Death isn’t the problem.”

“I should have known that wouldn’t work on you. But a girl can try?” Glancing over at her, Wolf was surprised to find the woman smiling. “No. It’s not. Frankly, the thought of something living inside of me growing and practically being a parasite really bothers me.” She continued before he could interrupt. “It is something that would take away everything I’ve worked hard to obtain. I could lose my career over it. I could change into someone else.” She turned away from him and was looking back up at the sky, reaching out to it and the stars. “This is all I have, Taichou. This is who I am. I cannot imagine myself as a civilian. A soldier held back from the front lines. Everything I know, love, and enjoy are things I can only do as a shinobi. A fighting shinobi.”

“You haven’t found the one.” He surprised himself, but before he could reprimand himself, his attention was back on her when she chuckled.

“I fucking hate that statement. That’s an entirely different discussion. Though, unintentional or not, you have a point. I’ve stopped giving anyone the chance.” She admitted. “And I am well aware of that, but frankly I feel like when that person comes around it will all fall into place. Plus, I don’t think I am the mothering type.” There was a pause before she chuckled again. “Got that crazy aunt thing down, though.”

They shared a comfortable silence before a scene from a couple of days ago flickered in his mind. “You looked like you were doing fine last time.” He could tell she was questioning him. A problem with her version of the half-mask was that her lips were free and she could be expressive when she really wanted. “With the Uchiha kid.”

“I’ll have you know that I am not completely incompetent. I did raise two brothers.” She puffed, gaining his attention with her new revelation. “Kami only knows what they are doing without me though.” She shook her head as she sat up and unruly curls flailed back and forth from where they were secured. “Enough about me, Taichou, how are you?” He paused before scanning the area as he answered.

“All is well on the home front if that is what you are asking.” He chuckled. “When I am not running around with my crazy-ass partner or team on missions, I am at home with my son.” His eyes rolled as she dramatically gasped and covered her mouth with a hand.

“You?!” She scooted herself over and lowered her voice he dubbed ‘Vixen’s shenanigans tone’. “A son? Taichou, do tell.” Times like these he had to remind himself that even the most capable of shinobi had their quirks. If he were being brutally honest, the higher the skill the quirkier the person. They could hide it, but given time...

“Only if you refer to me by my name outside of missions.” She paused and frowned since it had been something he had been trying to stop for some time now.

“I don’t know...” She drawled out and this time he frowned, albeit it was hidden behind his mask. “I mean, it could take some getting used to Taichou.”

“I will hold you to it.” He watched entertained as she waited patiently for him to continue. Curiosity and nerves getting the best of her, she squirmed a bit.

“Taichou?”

“Hmmm?”

“Your son.” She whispered, covering her mouth. “Tell me about him.”

So he did.

[ seven days later ]

{A + 5 }

The mission was a success, but there had been complications. Looking over to his partner, Wolf frowned. There had been nothing difficult about their job, but whenever he found himself in a situation where he, or a partner, had to resort to seduction based techniques, it always left an unpleasant taste in his mouth. On the upside, they hadn’t come to the decision lightly. Vixen lived up to her mask-sake and was a crafty, intelligent, adaptive woman. After bouncing off a couple of ideas, they both agreed the safest and easiest way for them to get in and out of there with the least chance of error was to lure their fifth target.

Less than a couple of hours of intelligence gathering found that he preferred the ladies.

Pulling the necessary attire out of her own seal located on her wrist, she hadn’t bothered leaving to change. Talking through the plan with him as she undressed, then redressed. He helped dye her hair from the unruly brunette color to a dark Uchiha-esque black, and she pulled out a pair of emerald green contacts. His appreciation for her sealing abilities doubled in those thirty minutes alone. The last thing she took off was her mask, her lips still moving in response as he presented her with any encounter she may stumble into. Jarred momentarily into silence at her lack of expression caused her to temporarily pause putting in her first contact to raise a single brow questioning. Wolf held her glance from behind his own mask before motioning towards his face.

The juxtaposition was jarring.

He would never claim that his partner lacked acting skills. All it took was her shutting her eyes and breathing in deeply, then it was as if everything about her changed. The way those predatory doe-brown eyes conveyed the sultry ‘out-of-your-league’ allure he had only heard of in romance novels and seen in enemy seductress. She held herself in a similar matter, confident, relaxed, and in control. Popping in her two contacts, she squat eye-level with him, holding out her mask for him to take. “In case things go to shite, get this to the Hokage. Chances are I’ll finagle my way out, but he needs to know if I am to be delayed.”

“Easy enough.” Her mask in hand, she flipped her hair out of the way as she looked at him over the shoulder.

“Does this dress make me look fat?”

“Shut up and go knock him off his feet.” The woman had the audacity to blow him a kiss before walking onto the main path to the town. He knew he had nothing to worry about and knew that missions like these were not unheard of. But she was his partner, friend, and watching it didn’t sit right with him.

They should have known better than to think they were over the hardest bit of the mission. Everything had been going too smoothly. They didn’t know if the last target had got word of the others’ demise or he was just a paranoid man. He had already sieged himself up in his home with his family. The plan was to break in under the cover of night, take him out, gather any evidence they could, destroy the rest and be out of there without so much as alerting the family.

They didn’t even make it to sunset.

Vixen had offered to stand guard since he had the other day. Screams woke him from his slumber before she could get to him. Sparing one another a glance, they jumped into action all plans out the window. They had arrived in time to save the youngest child. A daughter who couldn’t have been much older than his own son. Emi had dropped to comfort the child as he inspected the other bodies. They didn’t survive their wounds and were likely dead within minutes.

“We can’t take her back.”

“My thoughts exactly, but we are not leaving her here.”

“I was not eluding to that either. One of the nearby towns.” He knew that she knew they would have to go out of their way. If they left now, they would be back in Konoha within a couple of days. But when his eyes fell onto the brown-eyed child, he knew there was no other choice. Plus, they could use the break as they were ahead of schedule.

“Let’s go.”

So much had happened in such a short amount of time. Finally, they were now on their way home. Vixen had done a wonderful job of placating the girl when needed, and his piggy-back rides seemed to gain her trust as well. Vixen's hair was still black, and he henged his own into a brunette, explaining to the wide-eyed civilian that this is what he really looked like. When they finally arrived at a town with a lovely family who had recently lost their own daughter, ‘Ichika’ as Vixen named her fell into hysterics at word of their leaving. Out of courtesy, and because the child was screeching, Wolf did not hear whatever it was his partner had said to calm her, but he had heard her hiccupped ‘you promise?’ To which the black-haired brunette nodded and locked pinkies.

“Taichou?”

“Hmmm?”

“Can I meet him?” Frowning, he spared her a look, but outside of the slight fatigue and tenseness, everything seemed fine. Suddenly, she was walking next to him with a hand over her mouth and he just barely caught himself from tensing at the sudden shift. “Your son. Kakashi, can I meet him?” Whispering was extremely useful when talking to someone with sensitive hearing. Her voice was lost in the slight breeze and her hand added a barrier to lip readers. She had never asked him something like this before, especially not in uniform. With as close as she got, he could easily see the shimmer of her eyeshadow surrounding doe-brown eyes. He could also make out her features as if the mask were not there. She was pleading for approval and something was telling him that allowing this would help ease whatever had plagued her mind since they left Ichika.

“If it must be done.” He replied with a nod to clarify his answer, content to ending the conversation there.

“Yatta!” Rolling his eyes, he smirked behind his mask. “We make a great pack.” She remained at his side as a curious ‘hmm’ escaped his lips. “Seeing them. The future is important. Reminders of why I walk this path.” She added, placing her hands behind her back and humming for the rest of their journey. “There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for either of you, ya know.” He watched as she waved at the two Chūnin on guard, who waved back.

“It’s never simple with you, is it?”

“Oh. Quite the contrary, Taichou.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, there may be one more chapter drop in December. I am toying with the idea of posting monthly if not biweekly. Also while my writing is mostly in third person, I can say that the perspectives will change but (hopefully) not within that scene. I also don't post whose perspective you are in (Melody Pov/Kushina Pov) up top because I find it fun to be vague at the beginning of some bits. 
> 
> This is the new layout.  
> A - arrival  
> =XX - months passed 
> 
> I even decided to add what month that specific writing is to keep better control of birthdays and references. Tell me if you like? The rest from this point onward are formatted this way.


	9. Waging wars to shape the poet and the beat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How she had found herself in the same position she was in before befuddled the former Sergeant. How was it she was thrown into this world of endless possibilities and she could name the number of people she trusted on one hand... like before. Only this time these were people she knew were going to be ripped away from her, and there was the possibility she couldn't - or rather shouldn't?- do anything about it.  
> How much does somebody have to give up before they are allowed to be happy?

Chapter Eight 

[ September ]

{ A + 14 }

Hiruzen was not happy with the report on his desk. Jiraiya stood in front of him with a frown on his own features. “Is there any particular reason why you are not asking Hatake about this, sensei?” The forty-seven-year-old leader of the village let out a long drag from his lungs. Sakumo Hatake was loyal to the village, there wasn’t a doubt about that in his mind. Hiruzen knew that if he were to ask the now Jōnin to ‘look after’ his former partner, he would. What Hiruzen did not want to do was give his anomaly any reason to think that anything was up. On the off chance, she was more than just what Kushina and she had explained and was instead a viable threat to the village. 

That had been his original plan. He was thinking of informing Sakumo during his next mission debrief on the day that Vixen had specifically asked for him to be her partner. He had planned to follow through with this original plan after that, but when he saw how they took to one another naturally and how both complimented the other. It gave him pause, then an alternative plan formed. When the rumors started up because he heard everything, followed by just how often he saw them in passing, enjoying each other’s company without the mask.

The Professor found himself conflicted. 

On one hand: With her newfound friendship with the village’s White Fang and with his tendencies to keep people at arm’s length; this was something that could benefit not only the two of them but the village as a whole. Emi was far too much of an asset to the village for him not to take advantage of. Their very own Jinchūriki, their last Uzumaki, had been the one to offer her assistance, but most crucially, her trust. It was that trust that lay the foundation for this little deal they had.

Emi was a piece he could throw at just about anything and not have to worry about the repercussions. She’d return to Kushina if something were to become of her. 

That was more than enough for him to take the chance on her, but then she had taken it a step further. Proving she was much more than what he or even possibly Kushina could have imagined. She had a mind of her own and she thought for herself. It never ceases to amaze him, how long the two of them could remain separated. In their initial conversation, he could tell that she was far more mature and analytical than her origin. The longer she worked for him, for the village he learned more about the chunk of Kushina that she offered as tribute. Emi’s way of thinking wasn’t like any he had ever had the pleasure of conversing with. Her dedication to Kushina surprised him. Hiruzen had a feeling that the Chūnin had no idea just how far down that well fell. There wasn’t a mission she turned down and for some more precarious missions he would assign, she’d even pitched strategy and even rationalizing the necessity of some.

Originally she only ran missions on her own and didn’t wear a headband. When she flipped into Anbu she wore a mask, but a different one than those their Anbu bore. Whenever she worked with anyone, they would wear the half Wolf mask. More times than not, that had been Sakumo who wore his hair down and even dyed it when necessary. Even failed missions brought back intelligence at no cost of life. With Vixen within their ranks, that was one less death he had to take into consideration.

Initially, even with her quirks, that was how he viewed her. A tool that could be thrown anywhere without consequence.

Little did he know he had only just scratched the surface of the surprises that the Kushina and her other half had gifted the village.

Ten months after their first encounter, his loyal anomaly asked for his permission to seek his elusive and possibly somewhat perturbed student. It was at this point where he knew he had to make a decision, and in the long run, it was a decision that would either vastly benefit or harm Konoha. He wasn’t much of a betting man, if he didn’t know he wouldn’t win.

She returned and reunited with Kushina within the allotted amount of time he had given her. He watched for weeks to see if Kushina would have also gained from all the training Emi had taken upon herself. But the child hadn’t changed, nor mentioned his wayward student. The perceptive ‘clone’ later explained that she had stored those memories to the side for the redhead to experience later. She built off of the way she kept her masked missions from the teen’s mind and elaborated on the matter later that same week with Inori in the room.

It had been a year since they had been introduced, and Hiruzen Sarutobi was still not completely sure what Emi was. He hoped with his entire being that this was just some new technique that Kushina had unintentionally created, or possibly something relating to her Clan. He knew that if the world were different. If they were at peace. He wouldn’t have risked as much as he had with this unknown. He’d neither have learned as much as he had.

As it stood, being the Third Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village traversing his way out of one war while trying to avoid another. He was in no position to look this gift horse in the mouth. 

So, if Emi built relations with other people in the village. Hiruzen took it as a win. She, in almost every sense, was her own person when she wasn’t with Kushina. Relationships amongst the population would give her further reason to remain loyal. He kept her entertained by keeping her busy, something she had admitted earlier on that she preferred than sticking around with Kushina all the time. 

“There is.” He answered curtly, letting out another long drag. “I would like you to sit down with her and Kushina to go over their Fūinjutsu.” 

An invaluable gift horse.

“Do they know one another?” 

“Quite well. Kushina was the one who taught Emi everything she knows. Now they learn alongside one another.” He explained, not liking the expression on his student's face, Hiruzen continued. “I’d like to know where you would rank them with their competencies in the art.” Jiraiya remained silent going over a couple of things in his mind and Hiruzen leaned back allowing him to do so. This was no easy feat, both of them knew that.

“That would explain a bit if the Uzumaki-brat is going around teaching people.” 

“What was that?” 

“Minato Namikaze. The blond Gaki. He has shown an interest in seals as of late.” Hiruzen turned this piece of information over in his head. “If she is skilled in the arts. Hell, even just interested. It would explain his interest in it.” The Professor chuckled, easily understanding the situation.

“There are not nearly enough Seals Masters for my liking in the village, nevertheless the world. Losing Whirlpool is something that we may never come back from. Their knowledge and intimate understanding of an art that is quickly turning into nothing more than storage scrolls and exploding tags.” Another drag escaped his lips as images of sealing feats during his younger years played in his head. “If any of the next generation is showing an interest, it is our duty to ensure that we steer them in the right direction. And kept safe from the hidden danger in the art.” Jiraiya wasn’t happy with the statement, and it wasn’t as if the Hokage could blame him. Ideally, he would prefer a more innocent interest in the dying art, but war was on the horizon and they both knew there was no getting around that. “Jiraiya, one day you and I will no longer be either capable or around for the village to rely on. As we both are jarringly aware, with the destruction of Whirlpool, we can no longer rely on the Uzumaki to send us their trained Seals Masters, Apprentices or send interested parties of our own to them to learn. It is in the village’s best interest to pass down this knowledge to the next generation, while it is fresh and those who have seen just how capable and variable this art can be.”

“Can she be trusted?” With the seriousness of the question, Hiruzen knew Jiraiya understood the direness of it all. For as much grief as he gave women in various villages, Jiraiya was not as big an oaf as Tsunade would have you believe. The thirty-year-old Sannin had every right to question sharing his knowledge with someone his sensei had only just filled him in about.

“She has proven her loyalties to the village and her friends within.” While he had said nothing blatantly, Hiruzen knew he understood the unsaid implications of his answer. The last thing on his mind was for Emi to have any reason to go digging into this sudden interest and inquiry about her. He had not spoken to either of them about revealing this to the Sage. “Tsunade believed she was worth her time.” That got a response out of his student, who to this day was still hopelessly in love with the Senju Heir. 

“Tsunade-hime? As in Tsunade-Tsunade?” The Hokage gave no comment on the obscene gestures Jiraiya had made, which easily explained why the Senju Heir was not in the least bit interested, at least outwardly, with him.

“She requested I give her blessing to go training with Tsunade.” Relief poured over the Hokage as he finally could share this new bit of information with someone. Intentionally not relieving his personal Guard so he too was informed. “She didn’t ask for anything but a written statement of my approval and said that she would convince ahem-” Clearing his throat to quote the brunette the elder continued, “I’ll convince the busty blonde medical juggernaut Senju heir that I am well worth her time.” Jiraiya paused, whether it was shock or amusement Hiruzen could not tell as he continued. “Or I’ll end up dead from annoying her. I hear she has one hell of a right hook.” Jiraiya didn’t blink once, but twice in silence before breaking out into boisterous laughter. 

“And she did it, didn’t she?” Jiraiya managed, wiping away the tears from his eyes. Hiruzen merely nodded with a smirk on his own lips. “Well, if nothing else, I have enough reason to at least meet this kunoichi.” 

“Don’t forget about the other tw-.” Finding he was alone in the room when he opened his eyes, the elder let out a sigh and took a long drag out of his pipe. His eyes remained forward, but his mind wondered how he may have affected Hawk’s stance about the new piece of information. Having worked together so long, Hiruzen knew that had Hawk the time. Their training would have quadrupled. But as it was, they barely had enough on hand to deal with what needed to be dealt with outside the village while maintaining minimum guard inside and having the odd one or two out on mandatory R&R. 

Having brought his mind back to matters of the village, the elder exhaled as he returned to his work.

\-----

[ June ]

{ A + 23 }

The first thing he heard when he arrived back from their mission was Kushina’s admittance into the hospital. Of course, Teuchi hadn’t the vaguest idea about the circumstances of her admittance, but he had heard enough from people in passing to know that it had something to do with her last mission and that she was rushed in earlier in the day. He knew better, but he was still actively ignoring every fiber in his being, telling him to drop what he was doing and rush straight to the hospital. She’d murder him, of that he had no doubts. Instead, nodded and thanked the chef before returning to his meal and finishing his bowl, ignoring the curious brown eyes from his sensei who sat next to him. The guarantee nail on the coffin would be for him to drag his sensei to meet Kushina in anything but her best state. Jiraiya’s reputation for being one of the Legendary Sannin was on par with his _other_ reputation. And to this day he didn’t know how a certain fiery redheaded kunoichi would respond to his that or his own strong personality.

An hour later with everyone having finished their meals. He bid his team farewell with the promise to meet early in the morning for training. The Namikaze went straight to the hospital and asked about said redhead.

Now he sat at her bedside, frowning and wondering what exactly landed her in the hospital in such a state. She was one of the hospital’s more frequent patients. She looked like she had every other time he had met her here. She looked like she was just sleeping. Kushina rarely bruised and the few times she did they didn’t last. It was another thing that intrigued him about her. This time his gut was telling him something was different, something worse. Outside of her bandaged right shoulder there wasn’t a single cut, gash, bruise, or scrape on her. For all intents and purposes, she looked like she was sleeping. Without Teuchi’s friendly update and had they not placed an oxygen mask on her, he would have figured that she had finally exhausted her chakra dangerously low. 

What did you get yourself into this time? He thought to himself with a frown as her brows knit together in her sleep. 

If anyone were to ask him why he had gotten up to get a nurse, he would have said that the machine or something wasn’t working correctly. In actuality, his gut was telling him to do so, and if he were being honest with himself, he would admit that he didn’t enjoy seeing her in distress while she should be recovering. He hadn’t made it to the door before her chakra spiked and he found himself shoved to the side by three medical shinobi who ran in. All he could do was watch as she squirmed under their care, her chakra spiking a few times before she sat straight up grasping her chest. “I need to see the Hokage.” His eyes narrowed, concern growing at the tone of her voice and the way she passively swatted away glowing green hands.

“Kushina-chan, you are in the hospital.” The head nurse tried to reason, and he reflexively winced back at the honorific. Without warning, there was a burst of chakra, a warning, and possibly a signal. “You need your rest, Uzumaki-chan.” 

“You get me the Hokage now, or you are going to find yourself with a missing patient.” She growled and the two of them held each other's gaze. She was fighting for dominance, a nonverbal warning that her mind was set and that it was in your best interest to do what she asked, lest she make your life hell for the foreseeable future. Finally, the head medic nodded over toward a younger-looking medical ninja who quickly left the room. If he knows what’s good for him, he’s booking it straight to the Hokage. Minato frowned, watching from his position by the door as she continued passively slapping away hands; each growing harder and louder than the last. 

Part of his mind was telling him to leave, the other was roaring for him to stay. Something was wrong. She was up and being as difficult as possible. Which usually would have been enough to convince him to go. But she hadn’t bothered removing the mask, and her breathing looked more forced than it did naturally. 

Minutes passed, and his resolve to stay waned. Approximately four slaps after a long sigh from the head nurse, their eyes met and he could practically hear the nurse’s thought processes as his mind roared for him to abort. 

“It would appear you have a visitor, Uzumaki-chan.” Violet eyes fell onto him and any thoughts of leaving dissolved. The lack of warmth and daring that usually lit her eyes was lacking, and that was all he needed to solidify his resolve. She wasn’t okay. She wasn’t fine. He was right, something was extremely wrong. She swatted away another hand as he watched her watch him. He would not leave until ordered or booted by her physically, but he felt uncomfortable standing awkwardly by the door. Biting the inside of his lip, Minato made his way back to her bedside. As he grew closer, he glimpsed the conflict going on behind those frosty eyes. But upon pulling the chair forward and sitting it disappeared, and he was thankful to have a familiar pair of fiery violet staring back at him.

“What the hell are you doing here?!” Unable to help himself, laughter erupted as she crossed her arms over her chest and sent him an accusatory glare. The mask muffled the question and finally realizing the device, she removed it in one swift motion, much to the nurse’s chagrin. Before he finished laughing to answer her eyes narrowed and she smirked coyly. “Don’t tell me that you are taking after that sensei of yours.” His laughter abruptly ended as the two medical-nin erupted in their own. 

“What?! No!” Even he thought his defense was too loud and too quick. Kushina apparently was on the same train of thought as she tilted her head, arched a brow, and, somehow, broadened her grin further. “Seriously. I just got back from my own mission and Teuchi told me you were here.” The fox-like smirk on her features deepened further while narrowing her eyes more into a squint and her lips tilted upward. The slight twitch of her right eye was his only indicator of just how deep he had dug his grave in this conversation. Kushina respected Jiraiya’s skill as a Sealer, but she was anything but quiet about her opinions on his other... hobbies. 

Fortune was on his side today.

The door opened and the younger nurse from earlier entered, followed by the Hokage. “I am going to have to ask everyone in this room to leave.” Watching as the medical shinobi left without question he remained. Not with the intent of insubordination, but because a part of him didn’t want to leave yet, and he couldn’t help but wonder why the Hokage had asked them to leave. His hesitation wasn’t missed by the Hokage or by Kushina. A hand fell on his shoulder and upon glancing back he found she was no longer threateningly smirking at him, but offering a small smile and nod.

For all intents and purposes, she seems alright. 

“That includes you, Blondaime.” There they were again, those dull violet orbs. He was only just beginning to convince himself that it was just a trick of light earlier or exhaustion. But now, as he sat next to her without the clearest of vision, he knew something was wrong. Had the smile she offered him not been genuine, had her words not soothed his worrying mind in a way she only could. There was nothing that could have removed him from that room. He let out a sigh, smiling as he squeezed the hand on his shoulder with one of his own.

“Of course, excuse me.” With a boy toward the Hokage, the blond was shutting the door behind him as his mind caught up with him.

_B-blondaime???_

\---- 

[ four days later ]

{ A + 23 }

A terrible storm was rolling through Konohagakure, and a loud roar of thunder woke the Hatake from his slumber. Constantly wired and having lived through a Shinobi war had ensured that his nights were rarely uninterrupted. Tempting as it was to roll over and fall back into another light, but restful sleep the white-haired shinobi paused, and as expected his door slowly creaked open. The father was smiling to himself as his son walked over to his bed. “Otousan?” Rolling over, he lifted his son up onto the bed with him. Disheartened by how quickly his son was growing up and maturing, he wasn’t sure if his son would bother coming into his room. “Arigato.” 

“Shhh. Go to sleep, young one.” Laying on his back with Kakashi nestled into his left side, his mind wandered. Minutes later, just as he was on the precipice of sleep, he caught onto a familiar chakra signature circling around his home. Huffing the Hatake pulled himself up to get off the bad, but Kakashi was having none of it even as their guest had finally knocked on the door. Choosing the easier path, Sakumo brought both his son and the blanket with him rather than trying to pry away this rare opportunity. The short walk out of his bedroom and down the hall, the thirty-four-year-old adjusted his son to sit comfortably on his forearm and lean into his chest. Kakashi’s eye lazily opened as the second wave of knocks echoed in front of them and around the living room. “I’ll take care of this, get to sleep musuko.” There was a moment of pause where the young four-year-old toyed to remain awake before exhaustion from the previous day’s training won out and Sakumo opened the door. 

“Taicho?” She looks like she went a couple of rounds with a tailed beast. Now fully awake and ready to pounce, the Hatake’s eyes scanned the area for any lingering chakra threat. His shoulder kept the door open and the wind from slapping him or Kakashi awake as a gust flung her freed brunette locks. When their eyes met he stepped back, putting more space between his son and his former partner. He recognized that dazed look, but couldn’t think of a time where anyone had successfully knocked **her** into a Genjutsu.

The relieved smile that spread across her lips swept a wave of guilt through the man. 

“Emi?” Her dazed eyes focussed on his sleeping son. Instinctually, he placed his nearest hand to her on his son’s back, ready to move suddenly if necessary. Precautious. There was no sign that this wasn’t his partner standing before him. He knew her signature and scent better than anyone else he had worked with. While willing to bet his own life that this was her he wasn’t willing to bet his sons. She remained silent as she smiled wistfully at Kakashi, seemingly forgetting that she was standing in the middle of a storm outside his front door in full armor.

Going over her injuries, another wave of guilt struck. This never happened when they worked together. Logically, he knew there was more to it than just his getting out of the Corp nine months ago. He knew she normally took more of the dangerous missions for the village when he was on leave or out on his own mission. He was the last person to doubt her abilities and capability to take care of herself, but logic did not stop his thoughts from wandering into the land of ‘what-if?’ 

She **_had_** been the one to convince him to get out. She’d berate him about it since she first mentioned it with each completed mission and injury they would gain.

Watching as a fox-like grin slowly crept across her lips didn’t ease any of his concern. She leaned forward toward him, and he stepped back, preparing to shunshin. Emi was a friend, a dear one, but she’d fillet him alive if he let anything happen to Kakashi. Doubly so if it was because of her and he did nothing to prevent it. Her hand came up. He was seconds from flickering out of there. Only her hand stopped to her mouth as if she were to tell him another one of her secrets. 

“I’m gonna throw up Taicho.” Watching with a mixture of confusion and curiosity, her sing-song voice further perplexed him. _She sounds drunk._ It was a longshot, but he sniffed. _So she’s not drunk._ An alarming thought crossed his mind. _Maybe poison?_ As she turned the acidic smell of bile bombarded his nose as she emptied her stomach onto his lawn. A pair of onyx eyes looked up to him in confusion before turning toward the hurling kunoichi. 

“Ewwwwww.” Genius or not, he was still four and Sakumo couldn’t help but heartily laugh at the scene. 

“Gomen.” Her heart wasn’t in the apology though he accepted it as his laughter died down and Kakashi curled his nose at the woman. “Go back to sleep, Gaki.” Kakashi huffed before resting his head back on his shoulder. Stepping to the side, he allowed Emi to enter as he eyed the puddle that may or may not disperse in the storm. _I need to remember to have her clean that slosh of Chakra Enhancing Pills in the morning_. He thought as she shuffled past, rubbing the top of Kakashi’s head in the process, who seemed to have finally completely succumbed to sleep.

“I am going to put him to bed.” A grunt was his only response as he retreated to his room, putting the bundled four-year-old in the center of the bed. Content his son was comfortable and set for the night, he paused at the door to admire the sight. Returning to his guest, he found she had turned on the light, and only now did her image fully match what his nose had already told him. Looking between two scrolls while crouching with her mask placed face-up on the ground next to her, he frowned. Seeing her without a mask while still in uniform was still odd to him, as it seldom happened.

They hung out whenever they both had the time, and with his dismissal from the corps, he hadn’t seen her in uniform as frequently as he once had. He **knew** who she was, unlike most of the corps and shinobi forces. Still, there had always been that line. Work and Home. He didn’t know when it started, but he knew it had been greying.

Contrary to what the shinobi gossip-mill would have you think, he didn’t know what she was thinking at any one point in time. Nor did he lay any claim over her, but he would vouch for his ability to read and understand the complex woman that was Vixen behind the mask and Emi without it. 

He knew she was being taxed and stressed in the months leading up to today. In every encounter with her since his leaving, he had seen the stiffness in her muscles grow, her ability to relax decrease. All while she maintained about the same mission load they had when he was in. A man who liked to keep to himself meant he hadn’t the vaguest idea what was going on within the ranks, but he knew he had picked quite the time to quit. It had been one of his biggest arguments about why he couldn’t against her. Their numbers were lacking. They may not be at war, but things were picking up, and they hadn’t completely replenished the force since the last war. She countered that if he didn’t leave now, then he never would. The escalation hadn’t begun overnight; it grew with time and would only continue to do so. It’s easier to rip adhesive off quickly than prolong the pain. He hadn’t been in-betted into anything yet, and if the Hokage needed him, he would ask. 

He had no choice but to concede.

Clearing his throat garnered her attention, and what he saw irked him. 

Her eyes were **still** dazed. 

“Ambush.” She lazily answered the question he knew she knew he wanted answers to. With a wink, she placed her hand, and he felt her chakra release into the ground as the characters retreated from her hand before climbing over the walls, floor, and ceiling of his living room. _Silencing seal_. He had seen her perform and place it enough times to know her Fūinjutsu skills were not to be underestimated... if you were even aware she had that in her repertoire. “Ambush,” She repeated, grabbing the scroll to his right, her left. “A severe miscalculation and shite luck.” Standing from her crouched position, she slid a sliver of chakra into the scroll, releasing the contents from within. “Shite. Shite. Luck.” She grumbled as he internally winced at the level of beating her uniform and body had endured. His eyes locked onto, what he presumed, was the source of the strong metallic smell radiating off her. She had rolled her blood-soaked shirt into itself and had pathetically attempted to keep it from his view by placing it under her arm. 

“I’ll lend you a shirt.” They went their separate ways for the time being. He heard the bathroom door shut in the hall as he shuffled through his drawers. It took a moment, but he found a plain gray shirt, and with it, he made his way to the bathroom and knocked. She reached out with an arm and when he didn’t immediately hand her the article of clothing, she waved it around childishly. Snatching it the moment it touched her hand and shut the door. “Huh?” Even without his hearing, he was sure anyone could hear the woman talking to herself over the water on a normal stormless night. “This ain’t mine. Didn’t I leave a shirt here?” He smirked as her voice fell to a whisper before the door opened ajar once more. “Where’s my shirt, Taicho?” Tsk-king was her only response and because of that she peered from the small opening and he crossed his arms, giving her a pointed look. “Sakumo~” She drawled out. “Where’s **my** shirt?” Though she sounded normal and she was jokingly glaring at him it was still wrong.

Her eyes were still so foggy. 

“If I remember correctly...” He began looking up at the ceiling as if he hadn’t already thought this over as he shuffled through his drawers. “You created a pillowcase out of the three- no, four you brought over. Remember?” Chuckling as her eyes widened, and she shut the door he left to make some tea.

\-----

[ two days later ]

{ A + 23 }

“So what was that about?” The question snapped her attention up from the scrolls and over to Minato and Mikoto. Having blanked out the idle conversation, Kushina could only smirk as she cocked her head to the side. “You were in the hospital, Kushina...” Mikoto clarified, crossing her arms. “As your friends, we’re concerned, rightly so” Setting the scroll down, the redhead thought over the past couple of days. Kicking herself, it donned on her that she hadn’t offered either of them an explanation as to her sudden hospitalization nor the incident Minato had witnessed upon checking up on her. 

“Oh. Riiiiight.” She drew out chuckling as she set her ink brush down. “Well, you know how poisons and whatnot don’t really affect me, right?” 

“No.” Minato was nodding, but Mikoto was shaking her head and crossing her arms. _Did I really not mention that before? Oopsie Daisy_. She thought to herself with a grin. “Or rather, I assumed with you being an Uzumaki in all. But I wasn’t sure, nor am currently sure of what exactly your Clan abilities are. Nevertheless, which ones you have inherited.” She loved Mikoto like a sister, the woman was one of her first friends and sparring partners. Who better to understand that a Clan could have a multitude of unique abilities than an Uchiha. Yes, they all had the Sharingan. But as she had learned through exposure via missions with various Uchiha, while they all could have the Sharingan. The Sharingan itself varied from person to person, at the very least minutely. “That is beside the point, anyhow.” The heiress waved off. “You were poisoned?”

“Plenty of times.” The glare from both of them had the Uzumaki reeling back and regretting her choice of words with her hands up in defense. “Calm down, let me explain. Because my particular Uzumaki-abilities toxins don’t harm me as brutally as they do others. It’s why I take on more missions where the enemy is known or suspected of using poisons.” Even Minato put down his brush to listen to her now, so she continued. “Well, apparently not everyone uses shitty potions that don’t knock out an Uzumaki.” She silently sent a prayer up to her decimated clan, grateful that nobody knew exactly what they were known for outside of the Fūinjutsu prowess. While there may have been some truth, especially with this newest revelation, that their clan wasn’t harmed by toxins as most are — she knew she really had Kurama to thank for her resistance. “Anyway, it was a good thing they hit me.” The two others nodded, thinking back on the other three that had gone out on that mission with her and how valuable they all were in these trying times. _Arigato Kyūbi-Sama._

The snort in acknowledgment that came was entirely unexpected.

“A poison managed to knock you out? And put you on Oxygen?” None of them were stupid, Minato doubly so. He had worked alongside her more than Mikoto had and had been on the receiving end of a couple of poison-tipped projectiles more times than he liked. “That has to have been some potent stuff.” 

“Yeah. So apparently this Chiyo person has a huge grudge against Konoha.” Tapping her brush against the table in her dining room they were all sitting around, Kushina frowned. “You wouldn’t believe how annoying adept that old bag is with puppets.” 

“Chiyo.” Mikoto started and Kushina had never seen any Uchiha, Mikoto included, gape before. “As in Chiyo if the Honorable Siblings of Suna?” Thinking back, Kushina had spotted a Suna headband on the woman, so she nodded. A quick glance to Minato found even he had stilled and paled. “Kushina! You could have died!” The redhead leaned back as her best friend’s temper took hold as she stood and screamed. _They act like I wasn’t already extremely aware that I could have died. I lived it!_

 **“Should have is the phrase you are looking for.”** The kunoichi groaned both toward the Nine-tailed fox and her best friend. She had the pleasure of living through his bitching about how incompetent she was while he was healing her the whole travel back and sitting in the hospital.

“Why thank you, Mikoto. I was completely unaware of just how serious the situation had been while I was fighting off the poison before arriving back to the village.” She could feel the chill in the air as the two of them stare at her incredulously. _I can’t help that Melody is rubbing off on me!_ She internally groaned, ignoring Kyuubi's laughter from the confines of her mind. “I am a hard kunoichi to kill. How long is it going to take for you and the rest of the village to realize that? It is literally in my blood to survive.” Ignoring the ink she smeared off her brush and onto her inner forearm as she crossed her arms, she looked away from the two. “I’ll take my abilities over some fancy-schmancy eyes any day.” Minato’s abrupt laughter lifted the mood and her spirits considerably.

“We both know you don’t mean that.” Kushina huffed, attempting to keep her bearing as her best friend looked smugly back at her. “Everyone wants the Sharingan. It’s one of the Three Great Dōjutsu.” Minato still laughing didn’t catch the two of them sharing a knowing look.

“Oi!” Jotting her arm out, pointing the brush at the blond caused a couple of droplets to splatter on his face, instantly shutting him up. “Laugh it up, pretty boy.” Running his hand over his face to get the ink up did nothing but smear it across his cheek and nose and it took everything she had left in her not to crack up laughing. “D-don’t think that we are unaware of our ability to kick your ass to Suna and back.” 

“Let’s see you try to get out of the Honourable Chiyo’s puppet’s grasp with your speed alone,” Mikoto added before the two shared a look before cracking up at his confused state.

“Whoa. Hold on now.” Now he was the one with his hands up in defense, “What just happened here?” 

\---

[ same day other side of the village ]

{ A + 23 }

Melody groaned and rolled over, enjoying the warmth from the sun’s rays as she napped. Her head was killing her and while she seriously wished she had taken Sakumo up on his offer that night to sleepover. Deep down, she knew it was best if she left. Things with him were getting comfortable, safe, and she knew she was only one or two steps from fucking things up without dealing with the aftereffects of being poisoned and having her mind be in a haze. 

_If that’s in the books, I am_ **_going_ ** _to be sober to remember and enjoy._

“Apparently **you** pissed off one hell of a medical kunoichi from Suna.” Emi started as she sipped her tea in front of him. Looking up after silence followed his ‘hm’ reply. “I can hardly blame you for not wanting to look me in the eye.” She lowered her head toward him. After what felt like an eternity, which was likely just a couple of seconds, Sakumo looked up from his cup and attempted to hold her gaze that sent shivers down her own back. “When I saw them in the mirror earlier, I just about cried.” She laughed, leaning back into her chair and bringing her cup up to her lips once more.

“It took me until now to realize what bothered me the most about it.” She tilted her head to the side to usher him to continue. “They lost that predatory-like gleam that unsettles people.” The two of them laughed, thinking back at how bothered various bartenders, clients, servers, and their friends were by them. “Seriously, though. It looks wrong looking at you right now and not seeing that.” His hand fell onto her forearm as she pulled her lips into a taut smile.

“They look dead to me.” She admitted quietly, “I’ve seen enough of those eyes to know what they look like. They have that faded look the dead have, and that’s not exactly something I think anyone wants to see on themselves or someone they know.” She sighed, removing one hand from her cup and placing it over his that lay on her forearm. “I am sure it will go away as soon as the poison leaves my system.” 

“Poison?!” The contents of his cup spilled over the edges as he set it down too harshly. “We need to get you to the hospital.” 

“Haha, no. You know how I sorta heal faster than others?” He nodded, his eyes narrowing as she was sure he was piecing together some form of a puzzle in his mind. “Well, poisons don’t quiiite have the same effect on me as it does other people, either.” She finished squeezing his hand that tightened around her arm. “I slept through the worst part.” They shared a comfortable silence for another minute before he spoke. 

“Eventually you are going to have to go to the hospital.” He didn’t like her response but respected it either way. She could see there was more that he wanted to say, and she knew he was coming to a conclusion that wasn’t _necessarily_ incorrect. 

“Not if I can help it...” 

A life of half-truths was natural to her at this point. She was going through the effects of poisoning but hadn’t been the one who had been hit or seen it coming. 

Her last mission had been one of those ‘if it can go wrong, it will,’ but on steroids. Not only was their Intel complete crap, but they also walked into an ambush, and they separated her from her team. It was not something that warranted panic. They could all handle their own, and they’d try their best to salvage what they could out of the mission. She hadn’t anticipated being blindsided by the worst case of vertigo she had ever experienced. The closest thing she could relate it to was during her deployments out in that scorching heat completely geared up for hours and dehydrated, but even that wasn’t a close comparison. Her coils and veins also felt like they were on fire, which had made fighting extremely more difficult since she couldn’t risk using her chakra whatsoever. Her physical battle took the backseat to her internal battle of fighting to stay separated from Kushina. Luckily Ox had shown up and finished what she couldn’t, Rabbit showed up shortly thereafter with Cat and the four of them got the hell out of dodge. 

When they were safe Rabbit, their medic, had been the one to tell them what she already knew. 

She had been severely poisoned.

The original plan did not have them hunkering down for the night, but Rabbit was concerned about her moving around too much. And apparently, Vixen's lack of retort was enough to convince Ox to get a quick two-hour nap. Meanwhile, she used this chance to figure out what the fuck was going on and receded to the confines of her mind to check in on Kushina. Their physical distance wasn’t the hard part, keeping her own memories from bleeding into the fifteen-year-olds was. She always kept the slightest bit of herself back, so she had an anchor to reel back to when needed and so as to not worry the teen.

Her visits with Kushina in their mind weren’t just to catch up. She’d ideally only drop and store memories between missions that didn’t relate to one another. Once sealed and stored they split and while her bit of Kurama rejuvenated her chakra, she learned the hard way that he didn’t have to. To better that relationship, it was not uncommon that she would attempt to speak with the Fox. Her side was more forthcoming than Kushina’s, but Melody was willing to bet that was because the young Chūnin wasn’t as casual and open with him as she was.

Her goal for tonight had simply been to speak with Kushina and find out what the hell happened. Alas, someone knocked Kushina out, and it reflected in their meadow.

Snoring.

Loudly.

It had been Kurama that filled her in on everything that had happened. Understandably, he was not too happy about the near-death experience and had threatened to drag her back if things ever got that dangerous again. Melody chose not to mention that had he done that, and they died together, whatever slim possibility of part of him staying alive temporarily through her would be shot. Instead, she smirked and figured it was his way of hiding his concern about his hostess.

Melody was positive the Fox was in denial about that for some time now.

Still, the soldier was under no illusion that she wasn’t fucking things up from how things may have gone in the ‘original’ run of things. Kurama was proof enough of that. She shared a lot with Kushina, but she shared more openly with Kurama. Her Kurama. She had walked him down some of her favorite locations that didn’t exist in this world. Showing him Galveston beach, a vacation spot she based her half-lie to Kushina and Teuchi about. Various people she thought he would get a kick out of and some of more the unnatural aspects of her life.

He watched the twenty-eight-year-old grow up and turn into the woman who literally slammed into their mind almost two years ago. Even with her growing close to Sakumo on the outside, there were things she may never be able to tell him about. Things that not even the Hokage was aware of. Things she kept from Kushina. Kurama, whether or not he liked it, was not going anywhere. And partied with her during this adventure. There was the little added bit that if anyone was going to believe her and offer some amusing and intellectual (when he wanted) conversation about things... it was going to be the giant fox made of pure chakra. 

She’d eventually learn his origin story.

What had come as a surprise was his curiosity toward her world. His inquisitive nature was an unexpected blessing that balanced out his belief that she made the entire thing up. Their friendship, if that is what you could call it, was nothing at all like it was/would be with Naruto. Nor like how it had been for Kushina. But he was her ass, and they both knew that he wasn’t going anywhere for a long time.

“Is she dead?” Coming back from her pseudo-nap slash pseudo-meditation. Melody couldn’t place the voices that were whispering above her.

“I don’t think the dead breath Inoichi.” Lazily opening up a single eye, she watched an unmarred Nara sigh. Inoichi, the blond, puffed his chest out and glared at his comrade. 

“It was a means to start a conversation. I wasn’t being serious. I can see that she is breathing.” Shikaku merely shrugged as Melody- Emi lifted herself up, smiling as she waved at the Ino-Shika-Cho parents. 

_I don’t think I will ever grow tired of meeting the adult cast._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So from this point on, I am thinking of either a biweekly or monthly posting schedule.
> 
> I can guarantee it will at least be monthly, albeit I haven't set a date yet.  
> Perhaps if I am feeling particularly froggy and manage to conjure up an edited (the hardest part) chapter, secondary posts could happen around the middle of the month. But again, I make no promises.


	10. Unaware I'm tearing you asunder

[ September ]   
{ A + 26 }

Kushina was a wildcard.

Even for those who had never worked alongside her, she had a reputation. Her prowess on the field was growing with each mission she took. She was beginning to gain a reputation, outside of being an Uzumaki survivor, outside of their village walls. Meanwhile, inside the village, everyone knew that the simple task of finding and getting Kushina proved more times than not to be as dangerous as the mission that had put you in the position of getting her for.

Especially if it was some low ranking D-mission.

Time management had never been her forte. Knowing this he was in the habit of telling her to be somewhere anywhere from half an hour to an hour earlier than everyone else on the team. The habit had quickly spread to the mission room and the regulars who worked in it. When she was brought forth to start a mission many of the Chunin would silently adjust the time themselves. 

Typically with his extra time, he’d check in on the kunoichi. Her packing skills left much to be desired. Not that it had ever affected any of the missions they had gone out on. And he knew damn well she wouldn’t complain if she forgot something, improvisation was definitely becoming a strong suit of hers. Good habits had to be nurtured and while her packing skills haven’t hindered a mission, yet. He wanted to be sure it stayed that way. 

At least, that was the excuse he was going to give anyone who bothered to ask. 

She was staring darkly at the pot of tea she had on the stove. She had been unusually silent since he arrived. Concern gripped his mind. Tea splattered out of the cup, around her hand, and on the table. “Sit still, shut up, and drink your tea like a good pretty boy.” Watching waves of red sway to and fro as she shut the door to her bedroom the thought finally occurred to him.  _ I think I woke her up.  _

Knowing just how close he could have come to severe dismemberment, Minato Namikaze played it smart doing exactly as he was told. Silently listening to the Uzumaki as she prepared for the day on the other side of the wood door. His mind thinking back to the recent Chunin Exams. It had gone as smoothly as it could have with the heightened security and war having just ended between the countries. 

There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that the entire thing was a political play. All five who had been promoted were not Konoha shinobi. Based on rampant rumors passing both shinobi and civilian’s lips, Minato knew he wasn’t the only one of that opinion. Anyone who had witnessed or participated in the Exam, himself included, could tell anyone else that their own shinobi were nowhere on par with the other nations. Personally, he was of the mindset that had the Kage's not individually announced that any deaths during said exams would demand severe consequence, there would have been casualties.

The Forest of Death had been utilized in the second exam. There had been rumors for years that the Council and Clan Heads had been toying with the idea since Tobirama had removed it the year prior to his passing. There was skepticism at the number of teams that had passed the first test, but the Forest of Death had easily knocked out eighty-percent of the participants. The majority of the candidates simply didn’t have what it took, and those who did had possibly already taken part in the previous war. 

He wasn’t privy to how they chose the promotions, but if he were Hokage. Minato would have done exactly what the Third had. He was sure that not promoting any of his own was an act of good faith behind the tentative peace between the nations.

Her team had immediately been filled with a Chunin due to Manabu’s passing. Therefore, he had not the chance or opportunity to confront her about some of the speculations he had come across himself during the Exams or some of the demons of her past that she refused to bring up. Manabu included. 

The Main One in question being: Who did she think was the current Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki.

Having his own opinions and pondering the question with various shinobi amongst their own ranks, along with the few he had the pleasure of conversing with during the Exams. It was during these conversations when he began to take the question seriously. He really needed to visually gauge her response to the question before he could solidify his own current hypothesis on the matter. It bothered him that something like this hadn't come up prior to now or likely wouldn't have had he not the privilege of being one of the Legendary Sannin's students.

It would explain a lot if what he believed was true. 

More importantly, it would bring upon a whole new barrage of concerns. 

Trust had always been an obvious issue in regards to Konoha’s Red Hot Habanero. Her sudden transfer from her home village had disrupted whatever normalcy she had. Then Uzushiogakure’s destruction demolished what little progress made in those years between. Children were capable of horrible things. Her vibrant red hair was an easy target for the bullies in their class. Only now as he thought back on it, their Chunin instructor did nothing but watch as she responded to their jibes with her fists. 

Even as a young child she was a fighter. 

Her kidnapping and subsequent rescue by not one of Konoha's finest, but a former classmate likely also did a number on her trust in the village. The recovery attempt itself was questionable at the very least, especially for a village at war. While he hated the fact she was kidnapped, it had given him the opportunity to weasel his way into her good graces. A feat harder to do since they were not on the same team. With that trust he had been able to witness and take part in the personal growth and changes that would come in the aftermath.

She began to open up, taking training far more seriously than she had in the past. Never once complaining about the harsh conditions that her sensei forced on her and the team. Minato to this day didn’t know the details, but it turned out that the very same sensei was an infiltrated spy. The escort mission was a cover and when they returned Team 5 was down both a sensei and a genin. Akihiro gave his report to the Hokage as Kushina lay unconscious in the hospital. He wasn’t close to Akihiro, but he knew Akihiro wasn’t exactly friends with his female teammate. 

That mission changed everything. 

Kushina’s life was a tale filled with back-to-back tragedies. 

There were people like him and now Akihiro, but Minato couldn’t deny that he worried whether or not she truly trusted anyone. Themselves included. The people she had been raised with were all slain; the village she grew up in destroyed; she lost her guardian who was one of the last of her clan and mentor; she was kidnapped from under the Hokage (and his shinobi's) noses; lost her first sensei on a mission; and beaten by a man posing to be her second sensei who had forced her to kill both him and his accomplice only after they forced her teammate to kill her other and beat her senseless. 

Shaking his head in a physical attempt to ward off those thoughts the blond sixteen-year-old glanced around at the various scrolls, papers, and notes scattered across the kitchen table as he took a drink of his tea.  _ Well, that's interesting.  _ Wanting to busy his mind away from earlier thoughts and not knowing how long it would take his friend to get ready, the Namikaze took it upon himself to try and solve the new puzzle laid out before him.

\-----

[ Same day ]

After a long conversation with his father yesterday and a night's worth of thoughts the young five-year-old came solidified his stance and what had to be done.

His father had made valid points, specifically that he  _ quite literally  _ had his whole life ahead of him. 

His counter: the sooner he got out in the field the more prepared he would be when things inevitably took a turn for the worse. 

The young Hatake popped looking himself over in the body mirror placed at the corner of his room. The Academy had altered his routine by a couple of hours. It also proved that his time training with his classmates was a waste of time. They were years behind him. Unwilling to fall behind, he adjusted his schedule further. Getting up earlier to knock out proper training before burning perfectly good daylight sitting in the academy relearning various things he had picked up on his own.

Teamwork.

Weapon names.

Academy versioned katas.

Walking into the dining room his eyes glanced over at the extra plate of food. Having joined his father on the most recent grocery run; he knew the eggs had plenty of time before spoiling, but he couldn’t remember when they had grabbed the vegetables mixed into them.  _ Cooked to prevent going bad. Surely.  _

Breakfast passed in silence, he watched as his father eyed the extra plate. With both of them having finished his father smiled and packed up the extra portion with a knowing smile.  _ Lunch for the day. Dad always knows just what to do.  _ They had just left the house and were still on compound grounds when a flurry of brown tackled his father to the ground. 

"Sakumo~! I made it. Told’ya I would." Breathless she set up from the hug and his chuckling father. "You promised."

“And you’re late.” 

“Maaah, you’re not there yet. There was no time given.” 

“Breakfast. Sound familiar?” She rolled her eyes, blowing brown hair from her face.

"F-father?" Two wide-eyed onyx orbs tried to comprehend the series of events that had just occurred. Nobody vocally questioned the kunai in his hand. His father was an amazing ninja, a man with his own Bingo book page and stories of his battle prowess during the war. Everyone knew through either interaction or word of mouth that the young Hatake idolized his father possibly more than life itself. The reaction fell in line with his prodigal status and his dedication to surpassing his father. 

Keen onyx eyes watched his father hawkishly. People respected his father and it was this respect that Kakashi wanted to earn; he wanted others to be able to rely on him like the village did his own father. He  _ wanted  _ to stand side by side with him and be able to be someone his father could rely on. He watched as people bowed while passing them on the streets. Often their meals were covered by shinobi and civilians alike. And kids, typically curious academy students or clan members, would gawk or run up with questions about how they can become just like him. If it was scary. 

He was validated in his shock. Watching his father being taken down to the ground by someone he had seen in passing a handful of times was shocking.

"Kakashi, I'd like to introduce you to a good friend of mine and fellow shinobi, Emi. Emi, my son Kakashi." Dow-brown eyes locked with his matching onyx and a shiver made its way down past his shoulders before he could stop it. The five-year-old felt as if he were being sized up by a dangerous predator and as such his grasp on the kunai tightened.  _ This has to be what the rabbit feels like when locking eyes with the wolf.  _ His sights narrowed as her predator doe-browns flickered through various other emotions that he hadn't the time to process.

Then he was trying to avoid a pounce.

Which was a failure. 

Not only had the kunoichi, unsurprisingly, wrangled him into a full-on hug, but she had also made it to where when they landed he was on top of her and she had her back flush to the floor. The scene was almost identical to the one he had witnessed but minutes earlier only this time the Hatake was on top. 

"You have grown up soooooo much." Face nuzzled into her shoulder the sense of comfort that swept over him was eerily familiar, alas his mind was more focussed on the fact that he had somehow managed to lose his kunai in the tumble. "You likely don't remember this, but I promised to be at your graduation Kid. Whether or not we had properly met." She loosened the hold and he shot up, but her grip held him on her stomach allowing his onyx eyes to meet with doe-brown once more. 

There wasn't a doubt in his mind that she had been a prominent part of his childhood. Before he was able to form proper memories and while his mind was still developing. The pure admiration staring back at him could be easily explained if that were the case. In the five or so minutes since he had 'properly' met this woman, a slew of things bothered him about her. 

Top of that list.    
Those eyes. 

He had learned early on that you wanted to best judge a person, all one had to do was look into their eyes. They were the hardest part to conceal one's true intentions... unlike body language. Her reserves overwhelmed him in a similar manner as his fathers did. That was not unusual, there was plenty of other shinobi that rivaled or surpassed his father's levels. He  **_knew_ ** she was a prominent figure in his short life, because of how safe he felt around them. Her skill was unquestionable. He was by far no specialist, but she had caught him completely off guard even with the training his father had passed to him. His father had commented on various occasions how advanced his tracking skills were progressing. Kakashi had sensed her before during many of the various times he spotted her while out and about with his father. She always felt like the other Chūnin in the village. 

Her eyes told him just how wrong that original assumption had been. 

He had always associated that haunted look he found within the depths of the Hokage, Jiraiya-sama, and his father's eyes as that of someone who had lived through hell itself. She definitely had the look of someone who had lived and seen the atrocities of the world and undoubtedly performed some herself. His father always warned that the shinobi's life mentally aged people quicker than their physical body. That it was not uncommon for some people to lose themselves in the chaos of it all.

And there was no way to undo it.    
One either learned to live with it or gave up on life in one way, shape, or form.

If she were absolutely anyone else, he should be terrified of her. She was a threat and someone that you didn’t want on the other side of a battle. She was  **dangerous.** Yet here as he stared into those doe-brown depths he felt anything but that. She was safe. That knowing smirk and narrowed cold ancient predatory eyes would sooner mutilate and redirect all of that concealed malice towards someone else in his defense. 

The shocking revelation was something he was going to bring up with his father.    
Was this another thing like their noses?    
Or was there more to this?

"You plan on letting go of my son anytime soon?" Bristling Kakashi kicked himself for retreating as far into his thoughts as he had. They were no longer outside the compound and were now walking through the busiest part of the village. Or rather, he was riding on the shoulders of a technical stranger through half the village without having noticed. She didn't seem the slightest bit bothered when he attempted to remove himself from her grasp. Instead, it almost looked natural the way she shifted him up onto her shoulders and held a firm grip on his ankles. 

"No **p** e." The beginning of a memory began to form in his mind at that single word response. It was right there just barely out of reach. Any remaining doubts he had about her presence in his short life were nixed with her next statement. "He doesn't even  _ recognize _ me yet. So, this time, I am going to  **smother** him in my scent as to ensure this doesn't happen again." Taking the hint the academy student inhaled and was soothed and calmed by the familiar and soothing scent of lilies with an undertone of salted water.

Had he been a stupider child, not had an earlier conversation about his mother with his father, or not have been swaddled in what was left of his mother's scent-filled garments when he was a babe; Kakashi could have seen himself confusing the caramel-skinned woman who brought upon this wave of tranquility and sense of safety was, in fact, his birth mother. 

Today was proving to be even more insightful and eventful in unsuspected ways than he had originally anticipated. 

"You are out of uniform." Kakashi watched the exchange from his forced perch on her shoulders. His father was looking over the brunette with a look he couldn't quite put a name to. It was similar to the look he received but different. That was not to say that his father was not an expressive person, or didn't care for those around him. In fact, Kakashi was well aware that his father cared deeply and greatly for his village and the people that resided in it. Even still, Kakashi had also quickly learned that with different situations and people his father's expressions seemed... planned. 

Example: The looks he received from his father were vastly different than the ones his father offered to random civilians on the streets. Different from the looks other shinobi gave both civilians and civilians who passed on the streets. Different from the looks, two people who seemingly knew each other gave one another. The look his father was giving the brunette wasn't like any he had seen his father offer others, not even the Hokage or Jiraiya. While those were similar they weren't the same. But the more he thought about it the more the young Hatake came to realize that this look was more similar to the one he would get from his father.

_ I still have much to learn about my father it would seem.  _

"Excuses." Now his attention was on the  _ unknown _ in question and his current capture. She freed his right ankle to wave his father dismissively. "I've given you enough time to do this properly." She began answering whatever lingering question he had missed while in his own thoughts. "Plus, I like the idea that with you guys I can't hide who I am..." She paused placing her hand back down on his ankle. "Unless, of course, I absolutely had to." His father was frowning with a matching arched brow that was on his own features. Their heightened senses were not something to be trifled with or scoffed at. "Don't look at me like that," she laughed, bouncing him up and down on her shoulders. "There are even ways to fool those Hatake noses of yours." He didn't know what she had done, but his father looked away and Kakashi was going to have to ask him what it meant when someone's ears flushed. 

His father had emphasized the ability to read people for as long as Kakashi could remember, and encouraged questioning. Recreating various expressions and micro-expressions as best as he could or pointing out things when they were out and about in town. Part of his confession for enrolling him into the Academy even though he knew he was well beyond their level was in hopes that he picked up some more cues and interpersonal skills with his fellow classmates. Elaborating that children were easier to read, but as one spent time with people, you can pick up how those cues change as they grow. Expressions that could not be put into words and alterations that came person-to-person. 

Rubbing a hand through his hair Kakashi silently sighed behind his mask. In the next couple of hours, he would be joining his father and Emi in the shinobi ranks. He had initially been excited at the thought, but after speaking with his father while his decision hadn't changed he understood the implications. Things were already in the process of changing and now any sudden change in the village status would directly affect him. People would see him as a child, but the headband signaled his entrance into the adult world. 

Bringing his hands down on top of the kunoichi's head the five-year-old paid no mind to the conversation the two adults were holding. Instead, as the Academy became a more prominent figure in front of them he allowed himself to relax and smile behind his mask. He'd allow himself this last thing, this last change into his world view before throwing himself to surpass his father. He knew that she wasn't technically his mother, but Emi seemed to be the closest thing to one that he may ever get. He had seen the other children join their parents after school hours were done. Watched how they interacted and had wondered a couple of times what it would have been like had his mother been there alongside his father. 

Who would his father be if he were not a single-parent shinobi?

This was the best he was going to get. So the five-year-old Kakashi was trying his  _ hardest _ to ensure that this feeling he felt right now; sitting on top of her shoulders as they walked him laughing, joking, and smiling with one another to his graduation, was something he would  _ never _ forget. 

\-----

[ same day ]

She hated mornings. 

Kushina couldn't tell you if this started before or after she and Melody had joined up, but she definitely began noticing how much she hated being woken up for any reason anytime before midday after. Melody had shown her the wonders of coffee after she brought some back from one of her mission a year and some change ago. She had also warned not to get too used to it. Explaining that with the current state of the world the beans were not easy to come by and were, as she said, “hella expensive”.

She was in the middle of running her brush down her hair trying to get rid of a particularly annoying knot when she heard Minato mumble something from the other room. He hadn't said much since he had shown up at her door and she hadn't bothered to focus her listening on him after ten silent minutes had passed while she was getting dressed. He was a smart man, he'd keep himself busy. With a hard yank she freed her brush from her hair and glared accusingly as if it would somehow regret inflicting such pain upon her. 

She had every intention of throwing her hair up, but after a couple of futile attempts to finish brushing it through she threw her hands up. Sliding the bands down her wrist and allowing her annoying mane to remain down for now.Having not received a reply from her now close friend the Uzumaki sighed and left her room entering the living quarters where she had left him waiting. Ignoring him to pour her own cup of tea she was finally beginning to accept what was bound to be a long, long day.

Knowing that he was going to pick up an interest in seals and was possibly destined to become one of the greatest seals masters of his time wasn't enough to prepare Kushina to find her blond haired friend studying a mixture of her encrypted and unencrypted notes. Opting to remain silent and watch the redhead sat across from him setting down her own drink before running the brush, she had brought with her, through her locks. This time in an attempt to tame them into the braid she had in mind whilst watching him get lost in the organized chaos she left out.

She wasn’t concerned. Currently there wasn’t a possibility for him to understand everything he was reading. Albeit if the notes written in his handwriting was any indication, Minato had apparently caught on that there were some similarities between the two seals he had on the left side of him to the supposable gibberish writings on the right.

Tickled by the experience and always up for having an excuse to look at her now, though she'd never admit it aloud, crush, Kushina watched as he continued to work for the next ten minutes. About four minutes in she noticed that Minato was living up to his genius reputation as he began breaking down the new language quite easily.  _ Though I'm willing to bet five bowls of Ichiraku's that he hasn't the vaguest idea as to the  _ **_meaning_ ** _ of what he is breaking down...  _ She smirked to herself,  _ at least, not yet.  _

Melody had explained that French wasn't nearly as complicated as some of the other languages she had under her belt. At least for her. The Language used just about the same characters she had been brought up to learn. It was just a matter of memorizing what words meant what.  _ Actually,  _ she glared watching as he continued to scribble down more. He _ seems to be picking up things that took me  _ **_weeks_ ** _ to notice.  _ She was proud, impressed and annoyed by the revelation.  _ I wouldn't be surprised if he would be interested in learning some of her other languages as well. He might actually be able to utilize them himself. _

Kushina could easily see how her best friend could grow into the adult she had the pleasure of admiring from Melody's memories. 

"I see you made yourself at home." Having waited until he made to dip his quil into the well she successfully got the reaction she wanted. Sure, it meant that she was down an expansion and storage seal, but those were easily replicable. 

"Oh! Ugh, you don't mind. Do you?" Violet eyes smiled as she shook her head and he rubbed the back of his head looking anywhere but at her. He didn't lose his situational awareness often, but when he did and she was around she absolutely took advantage of it. 

"I didn't know you were interested in Seals." 

"Haha, I didn't really know either. Honest." Leaning back in her seat she arched a brow finally glad to have him embarrassed instead of the other way around. "I've seen how they could be applicable in battle. Heck, what little I have seen you use seem practical if nothing else." He picked up the French he was looking at moments before. "I didn't mean to intrude, this is obviously coded for a reason, I shouldn't have-" 

"I leave things out all the time or fall asleep while working. That adds an extra layer of security if someone were to break in and I forget to put them up." She interrupted smoothly enough finishing off the bottom of her braid. "There was no harm done, it proved that it would bide me some time and I have a different more complicated system I use once I correctly finish new Seals. I typically burn those when they're complete." She shrugged, taking a drink of her slightly cooled drink. "No harm. No foul, plus." Her eyes flickered up to him from over her glass. "I think I found the final reason for allowing you to decode them."

"Oh? What is that?" 

"Did you know you bite your lower lip and chew on the end of a brush when you are thinking really hard." His flush was immediate and internally she was cackling triumphantly. 

She loved their unique sort of friendship.

\-----

[ same day ]

Standing at the front gate with his arms crossed and bags packes Akihiro found himself done with this mission before it had even begun. As usual his mind wandered to the C-ranked mission that had not only cost him half his team, but opened up his eyes to realities of what it meant to be a shinobi. He never would have anticipated, and nobody had ever hinted, that the first life he would end would be that of his own teammates. Or that shortly thereafter the second could have been the life of his other.

His distaste for mind controlling techniques derived from that battle.   
From Manabu's death.

It didn't take a genius to know that team five wasn't exactly the best team in the books back then. Everyone now chalked it up to the fact that for almost a good year and a half into their careers they didn't have a sensei. There was a silver, blood stained, lining that came with those unfortunate events. Having lost the one he and his surviving teammate were closer than he was to his own family. Demon host or not Kushina Uzumaki was the equivalent of a sister to him and it was because of this closeness and that mission as to why he was more aware of Konoha's Red Hot Habanero life, than possibly even the Hokage himself. For Instance:

She talked to herself... a lot.

Originally, he had found this little quirk of hers quite annoying. Whether it was the muttered witty remarks, her own personal musings or opinions on people - none of it seemed to contribute to anything more than grating on his nerves. It was only after the death of Manabu that he paid more attention to the things she said that he came to his next revelation about Kushina. 

She knew  **a lot** more than she let on. 

He wouldn't have ever fathomed it before, but Kushina was well versed in the political aspect behind being a shinobi. She understood the logic behind certain scenarios and had even mumbled events that had caused the mission they were offered. Once he caught on he began asking questions that would usually verify the comment she had muttered to herself and likely presumed nobody had bothered listening to. 

There was also the fact that whenever Kushina would snarl or scrunch up her nose at anything... well, things didn't turn out well. Outside of the few times they had worked with a Nara and she pitched up her own alternative idea, she would be told to let others with more experience deal with it and just do what she was told. Akihiro didn't know if they were being babied as some traumatized team who had substantially less time than others due to their mandated time off, or if her reputation as a hot headed prankster caused her fellow shinobi to underestimate her on her own. Either way, it lead to the next observation. 

Kushina was cunning

Ask anyone about the redhead and they would be quick to tell you that she was short-tempered, stubborn, violent, a prankster, and annoying oblivious to her surroundings. He would have been the first to jump onto that characterization as well. What he had come to learn by working as closely as they did was that these were all things that Kushina  **wanted** to be perceived as. As he began his own investigation on his teammate after the death of Manabu, Akihiro had come to find that not many things caught the female  _ genuinely  _ off-guard. He, like many others, had mistakenly believed that when she was 'caught off guard' and got 'angry' it was because she was oblivious. He found, through talking with her since the incident and nurturing a better relationship with her that the outbursts were expected of her and it would be far more worrying for those who 'do know' if her personality were to shift. 

Typically, she was just typically annoyed with the situation and the bigger her 'tantrum' the more annoyed she was.

Kushina was completely capable of detachment. 

Detachment was a skill that many shinobi evolved to some degree. It was far more prevalent in shinobi who were part of the last war than it was for those who stayed back in the village. Some claimed that it was necessary if you wanted to make it out of the field with some form of sanity intact. 

Kushina's eyes had always spoke volumes about what she was truly feeling. Especially when she was trying to wear an indifferent mask during trying times earlier in their career. It was through this window that Akihiro concluded that while she was not  **as** attached to people; nor as naive as Manabu. She still cared too much about things that would surely lead her to an early death.

When he watched those detached cold violet eyes scan the battlefield after she picked herself from their forced battle, he knew that conclusion was no longer true. Minutes before as she watched him burn their mangled teammate alive; she was in tears frantically trying to reach out to him to snap him out of what she believed was a Genjutsu. When he was forced to turn his attention and attacks against her he watched helplessly as her moves grew sloppy becoming an easier target for the man controlling him. They'd later admit that they were both terrified she would meet the same fate as Manabu by his hand.

When her body hit the ground he watched knowing that the other two could also see the rise and fall of her chest. Knowing that they knew she wasn't dead yet and he could feel the chakra in his body begin to build up for the inevitable flame that would cook her alive. Watching her once motionless body lift itself up onto her forearms, a part of his mind wished she'd just stay down, fall unconscious so he wouldn't hear her screams like they did Manabu's as he set fire to her. Nobody expected her to laugh and agree that she was stubborn. 

There was nothing familiar about those violet eyes that gleamed at him. Momentarily he wondered if their faux-customer had managed to intertwine himself in her head as well. The fire that burned behind her eyes was there, but it no longer looked contained and on top of that everything else about her was  **_wrong_ ** too. The way she talked. The way she carried herself. As they engaged in battle he didn't recognize her fighting style. It had turned out to be a blessing when fighting the man who was using his own memories and reflexes to fight her; but at that point it brought into question if he even knew the teammate he was fighting at all. Each of her moves had a purpose, if she allowed him to hit her it was for a reason. If she allowed him to dodge an upcoming attack, it was because she had something waiting for him on the rebound. 

Even if he hadn't started his in-depth analysis of her after that battle. His final, albeit first, observation was obvious.

Kushina was well above the rank of Genin.

After she had paralyzed him in place she shushined him away from the other two and gave him a look over. _"I am sorry it had to come to this. You won't be going home in a body bag."_ She turned him away from the fight. He still knew the moment their 'client' was killed, and he moved his body to turn and watch as Konoha's Red Hot Habanero toyed with the man who posed as their sensei. Who took out their sensei. Bones were broken, mistakes were made and it lasted until the sun went down. He picked up on some of their banter and was able to follow most of the battle. It was the perfect excuse to force him from looking over at the smouldering remains of their third teammate. Eiji taunted her, talking about letting the beast be completely free. She'd remark how he wasn't worth bringing **_him_** out.

It didn’t take a genius to connect the dots. 

She'd later admit that she was wearing him out. She had the reserves to spare, it was one of the perks of being an Uzumaki. He'd taken her at her word, everyone was told of their chakra pools… but he knew there was more to it than just that. The evidence was against her and he was too smart to overlook it. Even with those kinds of reserves, as he watched her rip the man in half with her chains after hours of ‘wearing down’ an S-ranked criminal and the banter they shared. 

He  _ knew  _ he had become aware of one of Konoha’s biggest secrets. 

He knew that Kushina was, without a doubt, a Jinchuuruki.

And he had a good idea of what.

**Author's Note:**

> The Summary says all!  
> As promised, this story hasn’t been discontinued. Life has finally settled down (as much as it can after a year like 2020) and in the time since I have been hand-jamming chapters for Part II (The 13 years post-Nine-Tailed attack) along with updating my original posted chapters.  
> Since I am a sucker for nostalgia and enjoy going back and reading my work from half a decade ago, the original story will remain posted on Fanfiction.net separate from the remaster that will be posted there a week ahead of posts on here.  
> The reason for this is that I thrive on feedback and while Ao3 is making leaps and bounds in filling up the role FF.net has dropped. Between the algorithm to track numbers and the responsiveness of the community with reviews and comments, chapters will be posted there first.  
> Thank you for your time, feel free to message/review.  
> And I hope you enjoy.


End file.
